LIBRARY OF J]ONGRESS. I 

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f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



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THE 



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^111 



BY 



MICHAEL MULLER, 

Priest of the Congregation c/ the Most Holy Redeemer^ 




ati-f^0i 



^ BALTIMORE : 

KEEUZER BROTHERS, 

Catholic Publishers, Booksellers, &c. 

1873. 



e^ 






Thb Library 
of congrsss 

WASHIl«OTON 



Kntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871. by 

KREUZER BROTHERS, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



PAG3. 

Chaptkr I — Introductory 3 

Chapter II — Origin of the Religious Life 9 

Chapter III — End of Religious .Orders 21 

Chapter IV — On the Advantages of the Religious Life... 42 

Chapter Y — Answers to Objections , 82 

Chapter VI — On the Marks of a Religious Vocation 174 

Chapter VII — Upon the Importance of Following and 

Persevering in the Religious Vocation 194 

Chapter VIIl — With what promptitude St. Flavia 

Domitilla obeyed the Divine Call in spite of the 

greatest difQculties 217 

Chapter IX — On Virginity 231 

Chapter X — On the Zeal of Religious for the Salvation 

of Souls 254 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



1 CERTAIN traveler canje one evening to the 
^^ entrance of a vast forest. The sun was just 
setting, but yet he could neither tarry nor retrace 
his steps. He was obliged to pass through the forest 
amid the darkness of the night. As ho was about 
to enter these gloomy woods, he beheld an old man 
of venerable aspect, of whom he inquired the way. 
The good old man was a shepherd. '^Alas," said 
the old man, *'it is not easy to show you the way. 
The forest is traversed by a thousand paths that 
cross one another and turn in every direction, and 
yet though they sometimes resemble one another, 
they all, with one single exception, lead to a fathom- 
less abyss." *'What abyss do you mean ?" asked 
the traveler. *'I mean," answered the old man, 
^ 'the abyss that surrounds the entire forest. But 
this is not yet all," continued he, '*the forest is not 
safe ; it is filled with robbers and wild beasts ; there 
is particularly an enormous serpent that infests this 



2 INTRODUCTORY. . 

forest and causes the most friglitful ravages. There 
is scarcely a day passes but we find the mangled 
remains of some unhappy traveler of whom he has 
made his prey. And yet you must absolutely pass 
through this forest, in order to arrive at the country 
to which you are going. Touched with compassion 
I have stationed myself at the entrance of this 
dangerous passage, in order to guide and protect all 
who enter this forest. At certain distances along 
the route I have stationed my sons who are animated 
with the same sentiments as myself and fulfillthe 
the same offices of charity. I hereby offer you my 
services and theirs and if you desire it, I will accom- 
pany you." 

The air of candor of the old man and the tone of 
honesty in which he spoke, inspired the traveler 
with confidence ; he accepted the proposal. In one 
hand the old man took his lamp and with the other 
he seized the arm of the traveller, and they instant- 
ly set out on ther journey. After having travelled 
for some time, the traveller began to feel that his 
strength was giving way. **Lean on my shoulder," 
said his faithful guide. The traveler did so, and 
thus supported, continued his journey. 

Soon the light of the lamp began to grow dim, 
and cast only a faint, unsteady glimmer. **Our 
lamp is going out," cried the traveler in dismay; 
**what shall become of us ?" **0 do not fear," an- 



INTrvODUCTORY. 3 

Bwered the old man in a calm tone; ^^wo shall 
soon arrive at the house of one of my sons and he 
will fill our lamp with oil.*' The old man spoke the 
truth. In a short time a torch appeared gleaming 
through the darkness and the traveller beheld a 
small but neat cottage standing on the road-side. 
At the well known voice of iho old man the door 
opened ; the weary traveller vras invited to take a 
seat ; a frugal but substantial m.eal was placed be- 
fore him, and he soon regained his wonted strength. 
After a rest of three quarters of an hour the travel- 
ler continued his journey, accompanied now by the 
son of the venerable old man. 

From time to time the traveller came to other 
cottages on his route, where he was kindly treated 
and where he found new guides. He thus continued 
his journey during the entire night. 

As the first rays of the dawn illumined the 
horizon, the traveller arrived safely at the extremity 
of the dangerous forest. It was now that he fully 
understood for the first time the great kindness of 
the old man and his sons. He beheld at his feet a 
frightful abyss from which arose the hoarse roar of 
a distant torrent. 

"Behold," said his guide, 'Hhe abyss of which 
my father spoke to you. No one knows its depth ; 
it is always covered withathick fog which the eye 
cannot penetrate." As he said these words he heaved 



4 INTRODUCTORY. 

a deep sigh and wiped off the tears that trickled 
down his checks. 

'^You seem to have some secret sorrow," said the 
traveller. '*Alas! why should I not grieve," an- 
swered the guide. **How can I look on this abyss 
without thinking of the many unhappy souls that 
are lost there every day. It is all useless for my 
father and myself to speak to them and to offer them 
our services. Very few heed us. The greater part, 
after having walked for a few hours in our company, 
accuse us of wishing to terrify them by vain fears ; 
they despise our warnings ; they abandon us, and 
very soon they go astray and perish miserably; they 
are either devoured by the enormous serpent or as- 
sassinated by robbers, or engulfed in this frightful 
abyss. For, as you see, there is only this narrow 
bridge, over which you can cross this abyss ; and 
wc alone know the path that leads to it. Go on now 
courageously," said he, turning to the traveller and 
embracing him with tenderness; ''as soon as you 
have crossed the bridge, you will find that it is broad 
day-light and that you are at home." 

The traveller, filled with gratitude, thanked his 
charitable guide, promised that he would never for- 
get him, crossed the bridge at a rapid pace, and 
was soon safe and happy in the midst of his beloved 
family. 

Dear reader, this traveller is yourself. The dark 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

gloomy forest is this world, so full of trials and dan- 
gers. The cruel serpent is the devil, the enemy of 
souls. The robbers and assassins are your pas- 
sions and temptations. The country beyond is 
heaven, your true home. The bridge over which 
you must pass to reach heaven, is the grace of a 
happy death. The good charitable shepherd is our 
Lord Jesus Christ. His children and assistants are 
the priests, your spiritual directors. The lamp is 
God's inspiration ; it is the knowledge of your voca- 
tion. If this lamp should at times seem extinguished, 
if the oil appear to go out, you must replenish it 
by prayiDg and by consulting your spiritual director. 
The various paths that traverse the forest are the 
various ' * ways that seem to man to be good, but which 
lead to destruction." Prov. 

The only path that leads safely and infallibly 
through this dangerous forest is the faithful com- 
pliance with the holy will of God ; it is the faithful 
correspondence with the grace of your vocation. 

If it is your vocation to live in the world, you 
must indeed not think of entering the religious state. 
But if it is your vocation to enter the religious life, 
you will run the greatest risk of losing your soul by 
remaining amid the dangers and temptations of the 
world. It is true that all are not called to the 
religious life ; but it is also true that many are called, 
who do not answer the call of God. I have thougbt, 



6 , INTRODUCTORY. 

therefore, dear reader, of writing this little book, in 
order to show to all who may be called to the 
religious life, the great value and happiness of such 
a vocation, the necessity of corresponding therewith, 
and the great danger of neglecting and abusing this 
>ignal grace. 



CHAPTER n. 

ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

^T. Isidor says, that the word 'religion' is dc- 
^ rived from the Latin expression relegenda lege 
(to read often the law of God); so that the 
name of 'religious' may be applied to him who 
often reads, reflects and meditates upon what apper- 
tains to the divine worship. 

According to St. Augustine, the word 'religion' 
is derived from the latin word re-eligendo (to re- 
elect), because, after having lost our Lord by sin, 
we ought to re-elect or choose Him again as our 
true and only Lord and Sovereign Master. But, 
according to the same Saint, the word 'religion', is 
more properly and truly derived from religando 
(to re-unite), because it re-unites man with God, 
with Whom he was primitively united, but from 
Whom he voluntarily separated by sin. Hence, 
according to St. Thomas, religion' is a virtue 
which teaches us to live in union with God^ by the 
practice of interior acts of adoration, of invocation, 



8 ORIGIN OF THE 

of reverence, &c., as well as by exterior acts, such 
as vows, sacrifices, genuflexions, hymns, &c. For 
this reason religion is, after the three theological 
virtues, the noblest, and the principal source of all' 
other moral virtues, as it teaches us to worship 
and serve God in a worthy manner, to practise all 
other virtues for the sake of God, and to refer every- 
thing to Him as to the true and only cause of all 
good. The faithful practice of this virtue leads to 
sanctity _, which according to St. Thomas, is the 
flower of religion, since sanctity makes us ofi*er to 
God our soul quite pure and free from every stain 
of sin, and preserve for Him alone, all its strength, 
powers and affections. All other moral virtues are 
as it were, subservient to this virtue, soire in as 
much as they purify the will, others in as much as they 
enlighten the mind, and others again in as much as 
they restrain and mortify the senses. 

The fruits or chief effects of sanctity are prayer 
and devotion ; prayer which leads the soul to 
familiar intercourse with God, and devotion which 
renders it prompt and cheerful in the performance 
of everything pertaining to His service. Of so great 
a value before God is this fervor of the will, that 
destitute of it, we are less agreeable to the iVlmighty 
in all the services which we render Him; but animat- 
ed with it, we become most pleasing and dear in His 
sight. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. V 

Religion as such is the form^ and the soul, as it 
were, of the religious state ; and therefore those who 
embrace this state, are called Religious, professing^ 
as they do, to strive after perfection and sancti- 
ty. Jesus Christ Himself is the Author of this 
life of perfection. His life and doctrine gave birth i 
to the religious life. He taught the counsels and 
the practice of making vows. His life was the model 
for all those who wished to become perfect. *'If 
thou wilt be perfect," said He to the young man in 
the Gospel, **go, sell what thou hast and give to 
the poor, and come follow Me." 

Many grave authors are of opinion, that Jesus 
Christ Himself made the three religious vows. They 
grant, it is true, that Jesus Christ did not make 
vows for the same reason, for which we generally 
take them, that is, to confirm and fix our will in 
good (there being no inconstancy of will in Him), 
but that He took vows for several other reasons. 

First — In order to offer to His Father the most 
noble act of religion, which consists in the vow of 
dedicating and consecrating to God, not only all 
that we have and do, but also our will in such a 
Inanner as neither to possess nor will anything ex- 
cept what He wills ; thus offering to the Almighty 
the tree together with its fruits. 

Second — Jesus Christ took vows, in order that, 
as master and teacher of perfection, He might be 



10 ORIGIN OF THE 

an example and model for imitation to His Apostles 
and to us. "Everyone of 3^ou that doth not re- 
nounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My dis- 
ciple." Luke XIV, 33. And in the Gospel of St. 
Markchapt. X, 28, and St. Luke chapt. XVni, 
28, the Apostles openly assert that they followed 
the example of poverty which our Lord had given 
them. *' Behold, we have left all things, and have 
followed Thee." 

Third — Because it is only by vow that a perfect 
renunciation of the goods of this world can be made. 
It is by vow that we voluntarily renounce not only 
the goods which we actually possess, but also those 
which we might acquire in time to come. 

Fourth — The three vows of religion are the three 
most excellent holocausts. But Christ offered Him- 
self and all He had, as a most perfect holocaust, to 
God His Father. The opinion then is most prob- 
able, and^ as such, it is embraced by Francis Suarez, 
Salmeron and others that Christ, in the first moment 
of His life, by vows offered and dedicated Himself, 
whole and entire, without reserve to His Heavenly 
Father, together with all that He possessed. 

The example of Jesus Christ was followed by the 
Apostles, as we may gather from the words of St. 
Peter, who spoke in the name of all the rest when 
he said: * 'Behold we have forsaken all things and 
have followed Thee." By all things, their wives 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 11 

are also understood ; therefore, bj these words not 
only their poverty, but also their chastity, is de- 
clared ; and by the words, ' ' we have followed Tliee^'' 
their obedience. The example of Jesus Christ was 
followed also by many of the first Christians. 

I. They vowed Poverty, as may be proved from 
the example of Ananias and Saphira. These two 
had taken the vow of poverty. For in the Acts of 
the ApostlesChapt.V, 2, it is said, that by fraud 
they kept back part of the price of the land. Now 
fraud cannot be committed in things that are one's 
OFT-n, but only in things that belong to another, 
''ihe Apostle," says St. Augustine, **declares 
Ananias guilty oi fraud and sacrilege ; of sacrilege, 
because he deceived God in his promise ; oi fraud, 
because he kept back part of the goods which he 
had renounced by vow." Serm. 27. 

Second — St. Peter accuses Ananias in the fol- 
lowing manner: ** Ananias, why hathSatan tempted 
thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, 
and by fraud keep part of the price of the land?" 
Now had not Ananias vowed and promised poverty, 
he would have committed only an officious, not a 
pernicious lie about something that was his own. 
This would have been only a venial sin; just as if 
a man, giving a hundred dollars to a friend, would 
say : I would give more if I could. Peter becomes 
still more indignant, saying : **Why hast thou con- 
1* 



12 



ORIGIN OF THE 



ceived this thing in thy heart?'' i. e. a thing so 
impious, so sacrilegious! **Thou hast not lied to 
men, but to God." It is then evident that he had 
made to God the vow and promise of poverty ; for 
no one is said to lie to God and to the Holy Ghost 
except he who does not keep what he promised 
by vow. 

Third — That Ananias had vowed poverty, is ako 
clear from his punishment. Peter punished him as 
well as his wife, by a sudden, public, and infamous 
death. Hence his sin must have been a grievous 
one, as it was in fact, being a sacrilegious violation 
of his vow. 

II. Many of the first Christians vowed Chastity. 
This may be inferred from the circumstance, that 
those who gave what was of greater value, gave 
also what was of less value. Now it is something 
greater to renounce all the goods necessary for the 
present life, than to renounce marriage ; for many 
renounce the latter merely to remain free from the 
troubles and crosses of that state. 

Second — From the fervor of the first Christians, 
we may also infer that many of them vowed chastity. 
They were replenished with the Holy Ghost. Ac- 
cording to St. Luke, **they were persevering in the 
doctrine of the Apostles." Act. II, 42. This 
doctrine was complete. It contained not only the 
precepts of Christ, but also His counsels, especially 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 



13 



thcj following : * * There are eunuchs who made them- 
selves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven . Ho 
that can take, let him take it." Matth. XIX, 12. 
To what else but the vow of chastity does this refer ? 

Third — Moreover, St. Luke says of the first 
Christians, that *'they were persevering in the com- 
munication of the breaking of bread, and in 
prayer," Acts. II, 42, and verse 46 ^'and continu- 
ing daily with one accord in the temple, and break- 
ing bread from house to house." If they received 
holy communion daily, and were all the time pray- 
ing in the temple, we must needs conclude, that 
they were chaste. For this is the precept of St. 
Paul. I. Cor. VII, 5. 

Fourth — The Corinthians, seeing that the first 
Christians of Jerusalem led a single life, commenced 
to doubt whether all Christians were not bound to 
do the same ; hence it was, that they proposed this 
doubt to St. Paul who answered them, that celibacy 
was no precept, but only a counsel of the Lord. I. 
Cor. VII. 

Fifth — TheEssenians, at Alexandria, too, made 
the vow of chastity. They learned this from St. 
Mark, who instructed them, and who had observed 
that this was the life of the Christians of Jerusalem, 
who had been instructed by St. Peter, as is related 
by St. Jerome.*) 



*) De Script. Eccles. in Marco. 



14 ORIGIN OF THE 

III. They vowed Obedience. That many of the 
first Christians vowed obedience to the Apostles is 
evident from the arguments which prove their 
poverty and chastity ; it is also evident from the 
fact that they brought the price of the things they 
sold, and laid it down together with their own per- 
sons, at the feet of the Apostles. Act. IV, 35 

In these first Christians, God wished to set an 
example for the Christians of all coming ages. In 
them he wished to give us models of a perfect 
Christian life which we should have before our eyes 
and try to imitate. 

These Christians, then, led a religious life, and 
were true religious, as St. Jerome teaches.*) Cas- 
sian also **) teaches that the Institute of the Ceno- 
bites, or of those who lived in community, was 
established at the time of the Apostles. There were 
many in those days who, being very desirous of 
perfection, wished to do more than all the rest, and 
who, on that account, retired to secluded and little 
frequented places, where removed from the troubles 
of married and family life, and from intercourse 
with the world, they could more easily give them- 
selves up to the contemplation of things and gifts 
more sublime. From living in solitudey they were 
called monachi (monks), and from living in com- 



*) ne Script. Eccles. in Fhilone. 

*^"0 Lib. 2— de Inst. Eenunt. C. 5, et collat. 18, C. 5.) 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 15 

munitj, coenohitae (conobites). Their founders and 
principal teachers were St. Mark, the EvangeHst, 
in Egypt; St. Matthew, in Aethiopia, where in a 
convent, he consecrated to the service of God, 
Iphigenia, the king's daughter, together with her 
companions ; St. Paul, in Greece, where he conse- 
crated to God St. Thecla; St. Clement at Rome, 
where he admitted St. Flavia Domitilla to the re- 
ligious life ; St. Martha, in Gaul, where she erected 
a convent, in which she and her companions con- 
secrated themselves to God's service and led a 
celestial life. 

That the religious life was instituted by the 
Apostles is affirmed by St. Dionysius who *) gives 
a description of the rites in use at the time of the 
Apostles for consecrating such persons to the 
service of God. We learn the same thing from 
St. JohnChrysostom*^'-),St. Augustine, Eusebius, 
and others. 

About the Essenians, Eusebius, quoting the 
words of Philo, a learned Jew, who lived in the 
times of the Apostles, writes as follows: *'No pas- 
sion disturbs their minds ; they enjoy the true liberty 
of men; no one possesses anything as his own, 
neither house, nor cattle, nor furniture ; they have 
all things in common, and live together in com- 



Eccles. Hierarch. c. 20. **) Lib. 3, contra rilu.s.s vitae monast. 



16 ORIGIN OF THE 

munity. Doing every thing for tlie good of the 
community, they have no preference for this or that 
occupation, but discharge their duties most cheer- 
fully, regardless of cold, and heat, and chancre of 
weather. Some of them till the ground, others 
have charge of the cattle, others of the bees, and 
others again teach different arts and sciences. The 
wages which they receive for their labor they give 
to the Procurator of the Convent, who provides for 
them, and supplies them with all they need. They 
need, however, but very little, despising and hold- 
ing in execration every thing that savors of luxury, 
which they consider to be the cause of bodily and 
spiritual sickness. None of them are servants, but 
all being quite free, serve one another. They ap- 
prove only of that part of philosophy which treats 
of God and the creation of all things. They keep 
a strict watch over good morals. On the seventh 
day they betake themselves to the holy places where 
the sacred mysteries are performed ; there they sit 
down in good order to listen to the reading and 
explanation of the Holy Scriptures. Thus they 
learn to lead a life of piety, holiness, and righteous- 
ness, applying themselves chiefly to three things, 
to a most ardent love of God, to a most assiduous 
practice of virtue, and to a most fervent charity to- 
wards their neighbor. There are many arguments 
to show that they love God most ardently : they 



# RELIGIOUS LIFE. iT 

always keep chastity ; they never curse and swear, 
they hate lying, and especially do they believe that 
Grod is the author of all good things and of nothing 
bad. 

That they are given up to the practice of virtue, 
is clear from the fact that they do not care for 
money, despise honors, hate sensual pleasures, and 
are always of an even and generous mind. 

Their ardent love of God is also shown by their 
charity towards their neighbor, their benevolence, 
their sociableness, and their love for everything in 
common. No one amongst them lives in a house, 
which is not at the same time common to all ; their 
income as well as their expenses are shared in com- 
mon ; and so is their clothing, their food, their 
drink, their meals and their whole life." 

Hence St. Jerome '^ writes that the life of the 
primitive Christians was such as the monks of the 
present time endeavor to lead This manner of life 
was restored after the third century, by St. An- 
thony in Egypt ; by St. Basil in Greece ; by St. 
Jerome in Syria ; by St. Augustine in Africa ; by 
St. Benedict in Italy and the whole of the West, 
The latter was followed afterwards by St. Bernard, 
St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Alphon- 
sus and many others. 



Lib. in PbilGLe. 



18 ORIGIN OP THE 

Astonishing, indeed, is the number of those who 
have embraced the religious life in all ages of 
Christianity. St. Athanasius writes that in hi-s 
time there were monasteries like Tabernacles, full 
of heavenly choirs of people, who spent their time 
in singing psalms, in reading and praying ; that 
they occupied a large extent of land and made, as it 
were, a town among themselves. Such immense 
numbers resorted to the religious life in Palestine, 
that Isidore was the Superior cf one thousand 
monks, and his successor, Apollonius, of five thou- 
sand in the same monastery. In the cloistered 
community of Oryrynchus were ten thousand monks. 
Upon a hill in Nitria, about twenty miles from 
Alexandria, there were five hundred monasteries 
under one Superior. Palladius relates, that he saw 
a city in which there were more monasteries than 
houses of seculars ; "so that every street and corner, 
ringing with the divine praises, the whole city 
seemed a church." Ho also testifies to having seen 
multitudes of monks in Memphis and Babylon, and 
that not far from Thebes he met with a Father of 
three thousand monks. St. Pachomius who lived 
about three hundred years after Christ, had seven 
thousand disciples, besides one thousand in his own 
house ; and Serapion had ten thousand monks under 
his jurisdiction. 

Theodoret records that there were also multitudes 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 19 

of religious women throughout the East, in Pales- 
tine, Egypt, Asia, Pontus, Cilicia, Syria, and also 
in Europe. "Since our Saviour/* he says, '*was 
born of a Virgin Mother, the fields of holy virgins 
^re everywhere multiplied." 

Nor was the great increase of religious houses 
confined to the early ages of the church ; for Trithe- 
mius (who died about the year 1516) says, that, in 
his time, the province of Ments alone contained one 
hundred and twenty-four Abbeys, and that there 
was a time when they had fifteen thousand Abbeys, 
besides Priories and other small monasteries belong- 
ing to his Order. 

St. Bernard, in his life of St. Malachy, records 
that in Ireland there was a monastery, out of which 
many thousands of monks had come forth ; * *a holy 
place indeed," he says, ''and fruitful in saints, 
bringing forth abundant fruit to God, in so much 
that one man alone of that holy congregation, whose 
nanie was Luanus, is reported to have been the 
founder of one hundred monasteries. And these 
swarms of saints have not only spread themselves 
in Ireland and Scotland, but have also gone into 
foreign parts; for St. Columba, coming from thence 
into France, built the monastery of Luxovium, and 
raised there a great people, their number being so 
great that the Divine praises were sung by them 
day and night without intermission. St. Columba 
2 



20 ORIGIN OP THE 

founded one hundred monasteries of which thirty- 
seven were in Ireland, a country which was for cen- 
turies known all over Europe as the Island of Saints 
and of Doctors. According to Archdall there were 
in Ireland seven hundred and forty-two religious 
houses. 

St. Bernard in the space of thirty years that he 
was Abbot, founded one hundred and sixty monas- 
teries. So rapid was the progress of his Order, 
that, in the space of fifty years from its establish- 
ment, it had acquired five hundred Abbeys and at 
one time no fewer than eight hundred were depen- 
dent on Clairvaux. 

The Franciscans seem to have been particularly 
blessed in the speedy and extensive propagation of 
their Order; for, about the year 1600, one branch 
of this Order, called the Observantines, is said to 
have numbered one hundred thousand members. 
This Order reckons at present two hundred thousand 
men and three hundred thousand sisters including 
the Tertiaries. It possesses two hundred and fifty- 
two provinces and twenty-six thousand convents, of 
which five are in Palestine and over thirty in Tur- 
key. More than eighty-nine emperors, kings and 
queens have been admitted into the order, which 
has moreover the glory of having furnished three 
thousand saints, or beatified persons, of whom seven- 
teen hundred are martyrs. 



RELIGIOUS LITE. 21 

Nor has the increase of all other male and female 
religious Orders and Congregations been less rapid 
and less wonderful in our days. What St. Athana- 
sius says of religious societies of his time is applic- 
able even in our own days : *'WflO is there,'' the saint 
exclaims, * 'that on beholding such a world of monks, 
that heroic company of people, continually striving 
after holiness of life, would not presently break 
forth into these words : How goodly are thy houses, 
Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, Israel ? as woods 
that give shadow, as a garden upon rivers, as tents 
pitched by God, as cedars of Lebanon near the 
waters?" But what is most wonderful is that among 
this immense army of religious men and women, we 
behold so many Kings, Princes, the Nobility of 
both sexes, andmen who have united eminent learn- 
ing with great holiness of life. 

In England, eleven Kings, from Sigebert to Eg- 
bert, exchanged the crown for the cowl. Indeed, it 
is recorded that thii'ty-two Kings of the Heptarchy, 
conscious of the impossibility of serving two masters 
— God and Mammon — resigned their crowns, and 
sold all, in order to feed the poor or build houses in 
honor of the Almighty. 

The holy contention which took place between 
two sons of a British King about the year 657 is 
memorable. The elder brother on succeeding to 
the throne, disclosed to the other his design of 



22 ORIGIN OF TUB 

entering into Religion. He desired him at the same 
time to prepare himself for the government of the 
kingdom which he would soon leave to him. The 
younger brother requested to be allowed eight days 
for consideration. In the meantime he betook him- 
self privately to a monastery, thinking within him- 
self if it were best for his brother to forsake the 
government, it could not be good for him to accept it. 
Among the women of noble blood who joined the 
Order of St. Francis, professing the po-verty of St. 
Clara, are Sancha, Queen of Sicily in the year 1340 ; 
Agnes, daughter to a King of Bohemia about the 
year 124.0 ; for though given in marriage to 
Frederick II., she would never yield her consent, 
but vowed virginity in a monastery in Prague ; a 
daughter of the King of Hungary, who though 
espoused to Boleslaus, surnamed The Chaste, King 
of Poland, kept her virginity with him, and after- 
wards led a religious life in a monastery founded by 
herself; Joan, daughter of the King of Navarre; 
Isabel, sister to St. Louis ; Blanche, daughter of 
Philip, King of France; Margaret, of Austria, 
daughter of theEmperor Maximilian ; and Marie, 
sister to King Philip,of Spain. About 1770, Louisa, 
daughter of Louis XV., King of France, entered a 
Convent of Carmelite nuns. Amongst the Abbesses 
of the Order of Fontevrault, founded by Robert of 
Abrisseh^ who lived to see three thousand nuns in 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 23 

one house of "his Order, are counted fourteen prin- 
cesses of whom five were of the royal house of 
Bourbon. 

St. Bernard, then, could write in truth to a com- 
pany of young noblemen who had joined his (the 
Cistercian) Order : '*I have read," he writes, *'that 
G\)d chose not many noblemen, not many wise men, 
not many powerful; but now by the wonderful 
power of God, contrary to the ordinary course, a 
multitude of such people is converted. The glory 
of this present life becomes contemptible, the flower 
of youth is trodden underfoot, nobility not regarded, 
the wisdom of the world accounted folly, flesh and 
blood rejected, the affection of friends and kinsfolk 
renounced ; favor, honor, dignity esteemed as dirt, 
that Christ may be gained." Thus is verified what 
the Lord foretold by the Prophet Zacharias : ' *In 
those days, it will come to pass that ten men of all 
languages shall take hold, and shall hold fast the 
habit of one of My servants, saying : we will go 
with you : for we have heard that the Lord is with 

you." 

But to enumerate all those religious men who 
have been eminent in learning and sanctity and have 
embraced the religious life, would occupy too much 
space ; I must therefore confine myself to a few 
only who have joined exquisite learning to singular 
virtue. Amongst these, Serapion appears in the 
2* 



24 ORIGIN OF THE 

first age, about 193. He was Bishop of Antioch 
and the eighth in order after St. Peter the Apostle. 
He was looked upon as the most learned and most 
eloquent man of his time. Pamphilius and Lucian, 
about 311, and John Climachu3, in 550, were 
monks. The writings of St. Basil and St. Gregory 
Nazianzen are well known ; St. Epiphanius was also 
a learned and holy man, and so was particularly St. 
JohnChrysostom, who flurished about 400. St. John 
Damascene, whose works also are extant, was very 
famous about 754. St. Athanasius, Bessarion and 
many other great men in the East, were also monks. 

Among the Latins, those two great lights of the 
Church, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, claim the 
first place, as being amongst the most eloquent, 
learned and holy Doctors of the Church. That great 
man, St. Martin of Tours, was also a monk, and so 
were St. John Cassian, Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons ; 
St. Prosper, St. Fulgentius, St. Gregory the Great, 
St. Gregory of Tours, St. Isidore, St. Edefonsus, 
St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure and Vener- 
able Bede in England. St. Anselm was at first a 
monk, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 
and St. Alphonsus Liguori was a monk and founder 
of a Religious Order. In short, out of the four 
Greek Doctors three were religious; of the Latin 
Doctors, also three. 

In fact, many Holy Pontiffs, through the lovo of 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 25 

peace, and solitude, and cloistral life, renounced 
their bishopricks, following the example of St. Gre- 
gory Nazianzen, St. Justus, Archbishop of Lyons, 
St. Vulfran, Bishop of Sens, and Pope Celestine Y. , 
John, the predecessor of the great Gerbert, in the 
see of Ravenna, had withdrawn into wilderness of 
the mountains of Capareo. In 1267, Isaac O'Gor- 
man, Bishop of Killaloe, resigned that see and be- 
came a monk in the abbey of tho Holy Cross. To 
Monte-Cassino, came the holy Bishop Bruno, wish- 
ing to serve God with more freedom under the 
monastic habit in that monastery, far from the 
tumult of the world. 

In the eleventh century, Bertrand, Bishop of 
Frejus, renounced his see, and retired to the abbey 
of Lerins, where he died in the odor of sanctity. 

Walter Mauclerc, Chancellor of England, in the 
reign of Henry III. , and bishop of Carlisle, took 
refuge in the order of St. Dominic, abandoning all 
things, even to his cloak, as Matthew of Paris says, 
when he entered the monastery of Oxford. The abbey 
of Medard at Soissons was chosen by many great 
prelates for their place of rest, after abdicating their 
sees, numbers of whom were buried beneath its vaults. 

Many prelates retired to monasteries expressly 
to die. Cardinal George d'Amboise came with this 
intention to the monastery of the Celestins at Lyons. 
Comparing his own life with that of the monk, 



26 ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

brother John, who waited on him in his sickness, 
lie often said to him: ''Ah, brother John, my 
friend, would that I had been brother John/' 

To show the great love and esteem of the prelates 
of the church for religious orders, it was the custom 
in the twelfth century, when a bishop died, to carry 
his body about from monastery to monastery, leav- 
ing it a day and night in each, till the whole num- 
ber of religious houses in the diocese had been 
visited. This usage was observed, for instance, atr 
the funeral of Adalbert, Archbishop of Treves. 

All these learned and holy men, by the contempt 
©f glory, have been more gloriously exalted, and 
more sublimely glorified. Of each of them is true 
what St. Augustine said of himself. "I have," he 
writes, **been much in love with the perfection of 
which our Saviour, speaking to the young man, 
said : *Go and sell all thou hast and give to the 
poor, and come, follow Me ;' and not by my own 
strength, but by the help of the grace of God have 
I performed it, and know more than any other, how 
much I have profited in this way of perfection ; yet 
God knows it better than I do. And I exhort others 
all I can to the same course of life, and I have 
companions in it, who have been persuaded by my 
reasons." Assuredly, to find such a number of 
persons, eminent for wisdom, piety and learning, 
forsaking all worldly possessions and embracing the 
religious life, must be one of its best commendation^ 



CHAPTER IIL 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



ll HE principal end of every religious Order and 
^ Congregation is the sanctification of its mem- 
bers. The Catholic Church, the promoter of per- 
fection, tho Truitful parent of virginity, sanctions 
the establishment of Religious Orders and protects 
them by her decrees, to give a home to such of her 
children as, being zealous of the better gifts, are 
not content with the observance of the command- 
ments, but aspire to the perfection of the counsels. 
The chief business or end of all Religious, then, 
is to strive to attain perfection. For this they are 
separated totally, but honorably, from the world . 
for this they have quitted happy homes and affec- 
tionate friends. ''The Lord thy God hath chosen 
thee to be His peculiar people, and to make thee 
higher than all the nations. He Iiata made thee to 
His own praise. Name and Glory." To reach this 
end they take the three religious vows of Poverty, 
Chastity and Obedience. 



28 END OF RELIGIOUS OllDKRS. 

It is Religious that should prove to the world 
that the Gospel counsels are not impracticable 
Their piety should make reparation for the ingrati- 
tude of sinful, thoughtless man ; their virtues should 
impetrate graces for the universe. Wherever they 
reside, they ought to be as the ten just men for 
whose sake God promised to spare the sinful city. 
Whether they follow the austere rule of St. Bruno 
with the Carthusians, or the mild rule of St. 
Augustine with the Ursulines, Visitandines and 
Sisters of Mercy, their chief duty is to attain to the 
perfection to which they are called. This end is 
common to all. 

Besides this end, they have a secondary end, 
which is the advancement of the salvation of their 
neighbor. It is this secondary end which distinguish- 
es all religious societies one from another. To reach 
this end, their life is either contemplative, active, 
or mixed. 

It is contemplative^ when spent exclusively in 
contemplation, prayer, and spiritual exercises tend- 
ing directly to the love of, and to union with^God. 
Such is the life of the monks of St. Anthony, St. 
Basil, St. Benedict, St. Romuald, St. Bruno and 
others. A spirit of retirement, or a love of holy 
solitude and its exercises, and an habitual interior 
recollection are essential to piety and a trueChristian 
life. Some, by a particular call of God, dedicate 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 29 

themselves to His service in a state of perfect solitude, 
in which the first motive may be self-defence or 
preservation. In the world snares are laid every- 
where for us, and its lusts often endeavor to court 
and betray us, and the torrent of its example or the 
violence of its persecution to drive and force us unto 
death. Whoever therefore prudently fears that he is 
not a match for so potent an enemy, may, nay some- 
times ought^ to retire from the world. This is not tot 
decline the service of God or man, but to fiy from siu^ 
and danger ; it is not to prefer ease and security to* 
industry and labor, but to rash presumption and a. 
fatal overthrow. But entire solitude is a safer state- 
only to those who are animated with such a love; 
and esteem for all its exercises as give an assurance- 
of their constant fervor in them ; who also seriously- 
cultivate interior solitude of mind, and willneven- 
suffer it to seek after the objects of worldly affairs, 
vanities, or pleasures ; whose souls, lastly, are free- 
from envy, emulation, ambition, desire of esteem y. 
and all other busy and turbulent passions, whicb 
cannot fail by desires and hankerings to discompose- 
the mind, to diaturb the pure stream, and adulterate 
the relish for a retired life. The soul must be re- 
duced to its native purity and simplicity before it: 
will be able to taste the blessings of tr,ue liberty, 
of regular devotion and elevated meditation. An 
indication that God designs certain persoi:^ for retire- 



80 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

ment is the discovery of talents fitted for this state 
rather than for any public station. For there are 
active and contemplative gifts. Those "who are 
■destined by heaven to a retired life, in it become 
•most eminently serviceable to the world by proving 
excellent examples of innocence, and the perfect 
spirit of every Christian virtue, and by their prayers 
and continual pure homages of praise and thanks- 
givings to God, from vrhich others may reap far 
more valuable benefits than from the labors of the 
learned, or the bountiful alms of the rich. Thus 
the world never loses a member, but has the benefit 
of his service in its proper place, and in the most 
effectual manner. This sort of life contributes to- 
wards the salvation of our neighbor in the same 
manner in which Moses, by his prayer, contributed 
towards the victory which the Jews gained over 
their 'enemies. 

By active life is unterstood that which is solely 
occupied with external works of charity ; this man- 
ner of life, too, tends principally and ultimately to 
the love of God, but only in a indirect manner. 
Such is the life of the Knights of Jerusalem, of St. 
James, St. John and of the Brothers of the Re- 
demption^ofChristians in captivity. 

By the mixed life is understood that which unites 
both the contemplative and active, and tends to the 
love both of God ai^d our neighbor. I Such is the 



El^TD'OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 31 ' 

lifeof the Orders of St. Augustine, St. Dominic, St. 
Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Alphonsus and others. 

The mixed life is considered to be the most per- 
fect. St. Thomas teaches us that, though the con- 
templative life in itself is mgre perfect than the 
active, yet the mixed life is the most perfect of all, 
for it was the life of Jesus Christ Himself. '*As ib 
is somethiug greater to enlighten than to shine/^ 
says St. Thomas, '*so, in like manner, it is some- 
thing greater to communicate to others the fruits 
of contemplation than merely to contemplate.'* 
When Elias retired into the desert, the Lord made 
him the following reproach : * 'What are you doing?" 
just as if the Lord said to him : There is no time 
now to give yourself up to a life of quiet contempla- 
tion. Our Lord Jesus Christ, too, deferred His 
ascension into heaven for forty days, in order to 
instruct His disciples. St. Francis believed that 
he would please God better if, from time to time, 
he should leave contemplation alone and go out to 
preach to the people. 

This secondary end, then, refers to the duties 
which Religious freely contract towards their neigh- 
bor, and which are specified in their rules. 

Now, this secondary end is always just what the 

Church wants most at the epoch in which each Order 

or Congregation makes its appearance. Almighty 

God, Who incessantly watches over the welfare of 

3 



32 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

His church, has, in every century, provided chosen 
vessels — saints — to defend and edify her and to 
Supply her wants. And such saints — in themselves 
alone magnificent gifts of Providence, — are invari- 
ably endowed by Heaven with the graces peculiarly 
necessary, at^th at precise moment, for the healing of 
the world and the victory of the Church. 

Aga nst Aranism, Grod raised up an Athanasius 
and a Hilary of Poitiers ; to oppose the Nestorians, 
God sent St. Cyril. He sent St. Augustine to beat 
down the Pelagians ; St. John Damascene to fight 
the Iconoclasts. In the decline of the Roman 
Empire, and to counteract the vices of the decadence, 
God sent St. Benedict and his legion of toiling 
monks. When the world became Christian, and 
Catholics grew rich and forgot the poverty of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, St. Francis was called to teach 
the love of Christian poverty to voluptuous Catholics. 

Heresy and ignorance then followed, and St. 
Dominic was raised up by God to combat these two 
great evils ; and therefore the vocation of the 
Dominicans is to teach and to preach. In the six- 
teenth century, Protestantism came up. Heresy 
arose in all its strength — ^Luther was its ring-leader 
and its spokesman, sensual passion and disobedience 
were personified in him. God raised up St. Ignatius 
and in him the Society of Jesus to oppose Protes- 
tantism by self-denial^ by an especial vow to the 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 33 

Holy See, and by their sound teachings of the 
Catholic Religion. 

Finally, in the eighteenth century, infidelity and 
impiety, the last consequences of Protestantism, 
personified in Voltaire and his associates, boldly 
raised their heads. Infidelity naturally united with 
Jansenism andRigorism to undermine the edifice of the 
Church. Rigorism took hold of confessors and armed 
them with iron sternness against weak and shudder- 
ing sinners. The consequence was that servile fear 
took the place of the charity of God ; that the sacra- 
ments, the fountains of life, were abandoned, or 
turned into derision; that the Blessed Eucharist, 
the life-spring of Catholic piety, became an object of 
dread, and that the spirit of Christianity seemed to 
pass away. But the eye of an omniscient Providence 
was watching over it. In order to confound impiety 
and infidelity, to fight against Jansenism, to disarm 
confessors of their overstrained rigidity, to awaken 
faith, to kindle in the hearts of the faithful love for 
the Blessed Sacrament, God gave to nis church a 
man after His own heart, Alphonsus de Liguori. In- 
fidelity had permeated society from the nobility to 
the lower classes, and the sons of St. Alphonsus, 
the Redemptorist Fathers, are preaching to the 
poor the eternal truths which they may have lost 
sight of by indifferentism and infidelity. 

God gave St. Vincent de Paul to succor the poor, 



34 END OE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

De la Sallo to educate poor boys, Nano Naglc to 
educate poor girls ; and when the fierce Revolution 
had swept away all vestiges of the Catholic schools 
of France, the venerated Madame Barat established, 
for the education of the rich and the poor, the ad- 
mirable Society of the Sacred Heart. The same 
Providence that gave these illustrious personages to 
His Church and His people, raised up in our da3's 
Catharine McAuley, just before the awful times of 
cholera and famine and godless education, to found 
the Order of Mercy, for the special relief of the poor 
in their numerous and ever-varying exigencies. As 
in the church of God there are religious to serve 
in the hospitals and take particular care of the body 
in illness, so, in the same manner, it is very neces- 
sary that there should be religious, who receive 
into their convents souls that are ill, in order to 
restore them to spiritual health. And as there are 
Ursuline Religious, whose principal object is to 
employ themselves in forming innocent souls to the 
fear of G-od,so, in like manner, it is very important 
that there should be others, whose particular object 
is to labor to re-establish this same fear in penitent 
souls. For the accomplishment of this object, our 
Lord called into existence the Sisters of the Good 
Shepherd, who have so wonderfully increased that 
the late Mother Superior General founded one 
hundred and ten houses. 



EXD OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 35 

Truly God never made use of better instruments 
in the furtherance of His benevolent designs in re- 
gard to fallen man, than the male and female mem- 
bers of Religious Orders, and the latter more especial- 
ly in our days. These spotless virgins have devoted 
themselves to the blessed functions of instructing 
the ignorant, the poor, the needy, the orphan, the 
houseless, the forlorn, the despised as well as the 
more favored of the earth, to soothing the 
sufferings of the sick, to works of charity and 
mercy, to prayer, meditation and self-denial. They 
are the glory and ornament of the Church and the 
gentle disciples of her whose immaculate purity 
made her worthy to bear, in her chaste womb, the 
Incarnate Son of the Most High ; they are especial- 
ly privileged '*to follow the Lamb whithersoever 
He gocth." Estranged from the world and its false 
allurements, their delight is to do the will of God. 
For this reason^ they are always joyous and happy, 
and proficients in the practice of self-denial, meek- 
ness, humility, and the other virtues. They make 
no grandiloquent printed reports, in costly binding ; 
they have no official stenographers or reporters to 
noise their proceedings in **morning papers;" they 
have no * 'Polytechnic Halls," fitted up with preten- 
tious libraries, and all the surroundings of upholstery, 
and heating and cooling apparatus ; but winter and 
summer, early and late, they keep the even tenor of 
3* 



36 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

their way with an ^'ejjc single^'* to their humble and 
laborious duties. 

In nearly all the cities of America, in those busy 
and worldly centres of traffic and trade, of luxury 
and wealth, with their average of good and evil, 
virtue and crime, this ''volunteer army''' distributes 
itself noiselessly, quietly, and as it were, obscurely, 
not heralded nor preceded by the emblems of pomp 
or worldly power, but nevertheless making its con- 
quests and asserting its quiet influence in lanes and 
alleys, gathering up the little children, taking them 
to its camps, and instructing and educating them 
in the service of God and society. 

My dear reader, you may have seen, in some of 
those cities, that long line of little boys or girls — 
two by two, extending to the length of a block or 
more ; you may have observed how regularly they 
are assorted, the tallest in first, and ranging down 
to the little ones, whose busy feet are trying to keep 
up with the column. You may also have noted the 
order and silence (so unusual among children) and 
your attention was arrested, and perhaps you know 
not how all this order in this beautiful panorama 
was brought about. Well, with these boys you 
may have observed two men, one at the head, the 
other at the foot of this long line. If you saw this 
for the first time, you may have wondered, and I 
suppose, been even amused, at the figure and cos- 



END OF KELIGIOUS ORDEKS. 37 

tume of those men — the broad-brimmed hat, the 
long, strange-fashioned robe, the white collar, the 
collected air and mien, all bespeak the Christian 

Brother. These men, nevertheless, are * 'profoundly 
learned in all the sciences of the schools.'' They 
have abandoned home, family, friends, and have 
devoted themselves, merely for a scant support, to 
the education of the youngs 

If, on the other hand, the long line are girls, you 
may have observed two ladies, one at the head, the 
other at the foot. You will at a glance conclude 
they are not of the world. Their costume is of the 

homeliest cut and quality, but scrupulously clean; 
there is a something about their very presence that 
impresses you with reverence and respect, and you 
must be a very hardened sinner, indeed, if you did 
not feel the better of having even their shadow fall 
upon you. These silent, collected^ but impressive 
women are "Nuns'* of one order or another. Thej^ 
too, have left all to serve God in the persons of 
these little children. They have made sacrifices 
greater than the world can appreciate or understand, 
and which only the Divine Master can reward. 
Their whole life is a silent, but an eloquent sermon, 
their whole conduct the gospel in action. You will 
remember, they are women like others of their sex, 
and may have been flattered and petted, and once 
filled with the natural vanity and expectations of 



38 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

their sex ; but all these they have put heJiind 
them, and henceforth and forever their walk and 
life and conversation is with God, and in the service 
of His little ones. Now, it will be easily seen that 
the personal influence of such men and women over 
the life and manners of children must be immensely 
beneficial. It is granted that the influence of father 
and mother is potential for good or evil. So it is 
with teachers. Children are shrewd observers, 
and are apt to take some one as a prototype and 
exemplar- This one they copy as near as may be. 
These ''Christian Brothers " and "Nuns or Sisters" 
are good copies ; they teach the children to pray iu 
the best of all ways, — by praying themselves first ; 
they try to impress on these tender souls sentimenta 
of love, obedience and respect to their fathers and 
mothers, and above all their duties to our dear Lord. 
They accompany them to His altar on Sundays and 
holy days, beginning and ending all their daily les- 
sons with a little prayer or devotion. For the resl 
they teach them in their schools all the branches 
of literature and science. 

The Editor of the Neio York Herald prefaces an 
account of a Catholic Academy with the following 
remarks : ^'However divided public opinion may be 
as to secular and religious schools — no matter what 
differences in opinion may exist in the community 
as to the policy of aiding or discouraging purely 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 39 

sectarian systems of education — there can be but 
little opposition from any quarter to the verdict of 
experience given by many thousand families, that 
these devoted women^ the Sisters of the Catholic 
Church, are the best teachers of young girls, the 
safest instructors in this age of loose, worldly and 
rampant New Englandism. Those matters of educa- 
tion which make the lady in their hands subordinate 
to the great object of making every girl com^mitted 
to their care a true woman imbued with those prin- 
ciples which have made our mothers our pride and 
boast. Those of us who cavil at Catholic preten- 
tions, sneer at their assumption, and ridicule their 
observances, must acknowledge that the Sisters are 
far ahead and above any organization of the sort of 
which Protestantism can boast. The self-sacrifice, 
the devotion, the single-mindedness, the calm trust 
in a power unseen, the humility of manner and rare 
unselfishness which characterize the Sisters, has no 
parallel in any organization of the reformed faith. 
The war placed the claims of the Sisters of Charity 
fairly before the country, but these Sisters of the 
difi'erent branches have in peace ' victories no less 
renowned than in war.' Educating the poor chil- 
dren, directing the untutored mind of the youthful 
alien savage in our midst, or holding the beacon of 
intellectual advancement brifj^ht and burnina* before 
the female youth of the country, and beckoning 



40 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

them to advance, they are ever doing a good and 
noble work.'' 

Just, then, as a good General, when the battle is 
begun, observes from a rising ground the state of 
the combat, in order to send reinforcements wherever 
they are wanted, so also Jesus Christ Who is the 
General of the Christian army, beholds from the 
heavens above the state of HisChurch in the differ- 
ent combats which she has to sustain, and according 
to her necessities, He sends from time to time, new 
reinforcements of doctors and heads of Orders to 
succor her; and herein the Providence and Mercy 
of our Saviour is very great, never permitting any 
distemper without applying a remedy in due time. 

It is, then, in this secondary end that the religious 
Orders and Congregations differ from one another. 
Those Orders which are exclusively contemplative, 
are, as I have already remarked, distinguished from 
those which lead an active or mixed life, by promot- 
ing not directly, but rather indirectli/ the salvation 
of their neighbors, by means of their prayers, fast- 
ing and of the other good works which they perform 
and offer up for this end. Religious Orders or 
Congregations professing the active or mixed life 
are distinguished from one another in this, that 
none of them embraces every kind of labor and good 
work tending to afford spiritual or corporal aid to 
their fellow-men, but each one is restricted to a 
certain kind specified by their rule. 



END OF KELIGIOUS ORDERS. 41 

Every founder of a religious society professing 
the mixed life, had in view an institute whose mem- 
bers should not only imitate the virtues and examples 
of our Divine Saviour,, but should also imitate, as 
perfectly as human frailty will permit, His manner 
of acting and living in this world. For just as our 
Lord and Redeemer was wont to withdraw from the 
society of men at certain times, and go forth to 
preach the word of salvation, convert sinners, and 
preach the Gospel to the poor especially, so, in 
like manner, did the founders of these religious 
Orders and Congregations wish that the members 
thereof should at one time be employed at home in 
prayer and the exercise of piety, devotion and every 
virtue ; and at another, go out to exercise such 
functions of the ministry or charity, as the secondary 
ends of their respective Institutes required. 

To give an example : The chief labors of the 
Society of Jesus consist in giving Missions and 
spiritual exercises, in preaching the Divine Word, 
in hearing confessions, in the direction of seminaries 
and colleges, and in educating young men. In the 
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the chief 
labors also consist in giving Missions and spiritual 
exercises, in preaching, in instructing the ignorant, 
and hearing confessions ; but the ordinary care of 
souls, the direction of seminaries, education of 
youth and the like, are excluded from this Institute 



42 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

as being labors which, although they aim at promot- 
ing the interests of faith and piety, and the salva- 
tion of souls^ are foreign to its specific end, and 
would prevent its members from prosecuting that 
end with all their strength. Moreover, although 
the Apostolic ministry, by its very nature, regards 
every sex, age and condition, as also all classes of 
human society, to the exclusion of none, yet, accord- 
ing to the views with which Heaven inspired St. 
Alphonsus, the Founder of this Congregation, and 
by the prescription of its rule^ its members are 
bound to make it their special care to assist the poor 
and destitute and to prefer them, and, in general, 
men of inferior condition, — in as far as they have 
tho choice — to those occupying a higher station 
of life. 

We may then say, that the difference of religious 
Orders arises from the difference of the dispositions 
of man; for what pleases one would not be grateful 
to another ; what would benefit one would injure 
another. Some like solitude, others society ; one 
loves contemplation, another action. It was for this 
reason that the holy Fathers instituted so many dif- 
ferent modes of life as conducive to salvation and 
suiting the divisions of graces, of ministrations, r.nd 
of works which were inspired by the same divine 
Spirit. Of divers voices is sweet music made, and 
BO in the Church different Orders render sweet har- 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 43 

mony ; for all are so arranged that none could see and 
not admire them. Therefore, Pope Clement IV. re- 
plied to a knight who asked which Order he ought 
to embrace, *'They all tend to the same end, which 
is the salvation of souls ; whether you embrace this 
rule or that, you will take the narrow way and enter 
by the gate into the land of milk and honey. Ex- 
amine, then, carefully which Order is most suitable 
to your genius, and adhere to it, so as not to with- 
draw your love from others ;" for ^'some," says St. 
Bonaventure, **tend to God by quiet, others by 
labor ; some in this manner, others in that ; and 
often what is esteemed the least is the best. There- 
fore, do not judge any one to be more imperfect than 
yourself, because he does not perform all the things 
which you do " (Stim. Amoris, P. Ill, c. 9.) 
Holy is the Order of the Franciscans^ holy the Order 
of the Dominicans, holy the Order of the Jesuits, 
of the Redemptorists etc. , in all of them the Lord 
has placed the ministry of reconciliation, and the 
way of safety. 

Hence * ^religious on a journey," as St.Bonaventure 
writes, * *are carefully to avoid exalting the merit and 
excellence of their own Order, dwelling on the de- 
tail of its advantages, so as to praise it to the dis- 
paragement of other Institutes ; they are to esteem 
it without making any invidious comparisons ; for 
it is wickedness to praise one's self while depreciat- 
2 



44 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

ing others." (Spec. Novit. c. 32.) ^'Heaven for- 
bid that any one should believe God to be local," 
says a monk of Cluny, writing for the instruction 
of an abbot of a monastery at Spires, ' 'so as to sup- 
pose that He cannot perform in the territory of 
Spires what He does in Francy. Only let His mercy 
be with you that He Who provea the reins and the 
heart may see that His precepts are observed with 
the sam.e simplicity and with no less regard to His 
will. What does it matter whether one is instructed 
by the example of a Franciscan, or of a Jesuit, or a 
Eedemptorist ? Once baptized, there is no Order 
in the whole church of God in which a good man 
cannot be saved, and in which a bad man will not 
be condemned : so that whether you take the habit 
of St. Francis, or of St. Ignatius, or of St. Alphon- 
sus de Liguori, or of any other, it matters little, 
since they are all holy habits, instituted by holy 
men. *'I am a Cistercian," says St. Bernard ; *'do 
I therefore condemn the Clumiacs ? God forbid ; 
but I love them., but I magnify them. Why then, 
you will say, did I not embrace the Order ? Be- 
cause each one has his particular calling, and all 
things are not expedient; and different medicines 
are required for different diseases. I praise and 
love allOrders, wherever there is a pious and holy 
life in the church. Uhum opere teneo ; ceteros^ 
charitate. In fine let it be remembered, that what- 



END CF RELIGIOUS OLDEES. 45 

ever may be our observance, those who live orderly, 
and yet speak proudly, make themselves citizens of 
Babylon, and sons of darkness and of hell, where is 
nor order, but eternal horror dwelleth/' 

'*There was a strife amongst them which of them 
should seem to be greater." (Luke 22, 24.) This 
root of dissension was taken away by our Lord say- 
ing : **He who is the greatest among you, let him 
be your servant.'' Who, after this, will say : ''Ego 
mcZ/or .siiw?.^ I am better."? If any one asks me 
who is best ? If I am a Canon, I answer : The monks 
are best ; if I am a monk my reply is, 1 he Canons 
are best. This is the rule of a Christian. 

Every religious, as St. Francis de Sales excellent- 
ly observes, should reverence and esteem the Orders 
"which labor for the glory of God, the edification of 
the Church, the salvation of souls ; he should be 
hostile to none ; he should endeavor to rival none, 
except in the greater love of Jesus and Mary ; nay, 
looking upon his own as the least of all, he should 
readily yield to others the first place of dignity and 
honor ; yet he should bestow his sentiments of 
peculiar love, tenderness and filial affection on his 
own Order, as being that living ark of salvation, 
which God has prepared for him from all eternity, 
to save him from the deluge and corruption of the 
world. 

Hence every religious is bound to love his Order 



46 END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

with the greatest possible affection, as the mother 
that brought him forth spiritually, and who after 
having thus brought him forth, does not cease to 
nourish him with spiritual milk. Nothing should be 
dearer to him in this world than the welfare of this 
mother ; he should be ever ready for any sacrifice 
for her temporal or spiritual good ; rejoicing with 
her when she rejoices, and weeping with her when 
she weeps; he should make her consolations and 
affections his own ; he should regard with a filial 
eye and bear with a filial heart the imperfections, 
blemishes, and all the miseries from which, accord- 
ing to the divine saying : '^It must be that scandals 
come." No Religious Institute is found to be exempt. 
He should not, however, on this account neglect to 
fulfill his duties, but, on the contrary, he should 
strive, with all his might, by words and deeds, and 
by his example, to uphold regular observance, fer- 
vor, and the true spirit of his holy Founder, upon 
the maintenance of which alone depends the true 
welfare of the Order, its increase and the blessing 
of God upon it. If any one should lack these senti- 
ments of love and affection, he would not, indeed, 
fail directly against the vows of Poverty, Chastity 
and Obedience, but he would incur the reproach 
which the Apostle made to the heathens, viz : that 
they were without affection. (Rom 1,81.) Nay, 
he would show such insjratitude towards God for 



END OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 4t 

the grace of vocation, as scarcely to justify the hope 
of being tolerated by the Lord in His holy house. 
''For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as 
the winter's ice and shall run off as unprofitable 
water." (Wisdom 16, 29.) 



2* 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE BELIGIOUS LIFE. 
► 

jE who shall leave his home, brothers, or sisters, 
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
estate for My sake, shall receive a hundred-fold in 
this life, and eternal life hereafter in the world to 
come." Matt. 19, 29. 

These words of our Lord have induced thousands 
of both sexes to despise and abandon the world and 
embrace the religious life. This promise of Jesus 
Christ has filled the Deserts with anchorites, and 
the cloisters with religious. Let us search diligent- 
ly into the riches of this promise, let us acquaint 
ourselves thoroughly with the treasures which it 
contains. 

Jesus Christ has promised to His followers 
the hundred-fold both of temporal and spiritual 
blessings. The Son of God knows that men are 
extremely self-interested ; that they seem to have 
no courage to undertake anything unless they see 
some present advantage. It is for this reason that 
Jesus Christ does not wish that those who renounce 



ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 49 

all things for His sake, should go- unrewarded even 
in this life. He does not wish that His followers 
should give Him a long credit, that is, much time 
to repay them for their generosity in renouncing the 
world with all its false and transitory pleasures. He 
therefore says: "He who shall leave his house, i 
brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or 
children, or estate for My sake shall receive a 
hundredfold in this life. 

Now this promise is literally fulfilled. Leave 
one house only, that of your father, for the love of 
Jesus Christ, and in return for it. He gives you 
as many as the religious Order or Congregation of 
which you become a member may possess. Forsake 
your earthly father and God gives you many spiritual 
parents, who love you more tenderly, who are much 
more solicitous for your welfare, than your father 
according to the flesh could be. 

Leave your brothers and sisters, and God gives you 
many others, whose love for you is far more sincere, 
because loving you as they do only in God and for 
God's sake, their love is free from self-interest 
whereas j'our brothers in the world hardly loved 
you for any other reason than self-interest. 

Leave those who wait upon you in the world (if 
indeed you have any such to leave) and you will 
find many brethren in the convent, who are always 
employed in your service ; one will serve you as 



50 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

steward, another as porter, another again as cook, 
ot as infirmarian etc. 

And what is more, should you be sent to other 
countries you will allways find a house of the Order 
or Congregation ready to receive you, and the same 
attendance to wait upon you. Now is this not to 
receive a hundred fold and more than a hundred 
fold in this life? 

Leave all your riches and God gives you much 
more in religion. By leaving them, j ou are render- 
ed master of them through His G-race, whilst those 
in the world who possess them, are rather their 
slaves than their owners, for they are constantly 
tormented by care and solicitude to increase and 
preserve them. * 'Their wealth," says Solomon, 
''even robs them of their sleep." Eccl. V., 11. 

In religion, on the contrary, God lets you have 
every thing you want^ without the trouble of know- 
ing whether it be dear or cheap ; you live, to use 
the words of St. Paul, *' as having nothing, yet 
possessing all things" (II. Cor. VI., 10.) 

As for ease of mind, you have a hundred times 
more in religion, than you would have had in the 
world. Do people in the world not readily avow 
that they are hourly exposed to a thousand misfor- 
tunes, disquitudes and troubles ? 

How great are not the misfortunes of so many 
inarried people. Even before their marriage, and 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 51 

when they marry, and even after marriage, all is 
trouble and vexation and full of a world of miseries ; 
if they seem to have any trifling delight, it is noth- 
ing if compared with their griefs, because it is 
drowned ia their present calamities, and in those 
which hang over them for the future. Their miseries 
are matter enough to make a tragedy. No one can 
conceive the world of miseries, to which married 
people are subject, unless he has tried them ; they 
only who have made the experience truly know 
that there is far more sorrow and bitterness in the 
delights which people expect to enjoy, than pleasure 
and contentment. Riches, the shadows of honor 
and all other things of the same nature, wherein 
men think themselves happy, are void of true hap- 
piness. What comfort and peace can they give ? It 
is far more honorable not to stand in need of them 
than to possess them ; the fear of loosing them tor- 
ments man more than the burning desire of obtain- 
ing them. 

A religious life is free from all these evils, vexa-^ 
tions and miseries, which so much perplex people 
of the world, and actually tear their hearts to pieces. 
Let the life of a religious appear to the world ever 
so distasteful, it is certain that it is far sweeter and 
more desirable than any other kind of life, howso- 
ever sweet and pleasing it may seem. 

The Order or Congregation to which you belong 



52 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

charges itself with the care of all the necessaries of 
life, in order that, being freed from all such anxiety 
and solicitude, you may enjoy constant peace of 
mind and tranquillity of heart, and be thus enabled 
continually to raise your thoughts towards heaven. 
Again, suppose you desire to rise to high honor 
in this world. ''lam," I hear you say, **noble crea- 
ture and therefore it is natural for me to desire 
worldly honor and dignities." Well, you have them 
in greater abundance in your religious habit. Prin- 
ces, Lords, Bishops and Magistrates, who perhaps 
would not have taken notice of you before, now pay 
you deference and respect on account of the habit 
which you wear, or the Order to which you belong. 
Thus the Lord returns, even in this life with usury, 
whatever you renounce in the world, for His sake. 
But now, if we come to speak of the spiritual 
advantages of the religious life, we must avow that 
language is incapable of giving an adequate descrip- 
tion of them. To religious we may well apply 
0what St. John says of the inhabitants of heaven : 
^* After this I saw a great multitude of all nations, 
and tribes, and people, and tongues, standing be- 
fore the throne, and in the sight of the Lamb; they 
are come out of great tribulation, clothed with white 
robes ; they have made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb, and with palms in their hands — and they 
serve Him day and night in His temple ; and He 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 53 ' 

that sitteth on the throne shall dwell over them.'' 
They shall no more hunger nor thirst. For the 
Lamb shall rule over them and lead them to the 
fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe 
away all their tears from their eyes. (Apoc. vii.) 

1. Those who enter religion begin to lead a life 
quite celestial and angelic. Like the blessed spirits 
in heaven, ''they serve God in the Temple.^^ Re- 
ligion, or the monastic life is a kind of heaven or 
Temple of God on earth. 

**It is a terrestial Paradise," says St. Bernard, 
''made by the hand of God Himself, in order that 
man may lead in it a blissful life. Your profession 
is most sublime ; it is higher than the heavens ; it 
is equal to the angels ; it resembles angelical purity, 
because you have vowed not only all kinds of sanc- 
tity, but also the perfection of all kind of sanctity — 
even the highest perfection. It is for others to 
serve God, but for you to be united to Him. What 
name, therefore, shall 1 give you that is worthy of 
you ? Shall I call you heavenly men, or earthly 
angels ? For though you live upon earth, your 
conversation and your thoughts are in heaven, for 
you are no longer strangers and pilgrims upon earth, 
but fellow-citizens of the Saints and domestics of 
God." 

Religious persons constantly practise the virtue 
of religion, the noblest of all moral virtues, which 



54 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

teaches us to worship and serve God in a manner 
worthy of Him, and to refer all things to Him as 
to their true Author, and to offer our souls to Him 
pure and immaculate ; for they have dedicated and 
consecrated themselves for ever to the divine ser- 
vice, and all they do is done from the vow of obe- 
dience, which is dictated by the virtue of religion, 
and to which they subject themselves from the sole 
motive of the love of God. Such as the tree is, 
such is the fruit. If the tree is consecrated to God, 
the fruit which it produces is so too. All religious 
persons are so many trees, as it were, consecrated 
to God and His service; hence all their actions, the 
fruits of these trees, are so many acts of religion, 
that is, holy sacrifices offered to Almighty God. 
To illustrate still better. A fast, which is an act 
of the virtue of temperance, becomes also an act cf 
religion by vow which enhances its merit so as to 
attach to it, both the merit of the good act itself, 
which is temperance, and the merit of the acts cf 
religion by reason of the vow. In like manner a 
religious acquires double merit in everything he 
does out of obedience, that is, he acquires the merit 
of the good action itself and that of obedience. Thus 
a religious lives more purely, says St. Bernard, all 
his actions being in themselves most pure and ac- 
ceptable before God, because they are in conformity 
to His will, and free from the corruption of self-vrill. 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 65 

It is on this account that Gilbert, the Abbot, 
says (serm. 87) that the meanest work of a religious 
is more meritorious in the sight of God than the 
most heroic action of a jocular person. ^ 'The actions 
of a secular," says St. Alphonsus, * 'however holy 
and fervent he may be, partake more of self-will 
than those of religious. Seculars pra^^ communi- 
cate, hear mass, read, take the discipline, and re- 
cite the divine office when they please. But a reli- 
gious performs these duties at the time prescribed 
by obedience — that is, by the holy will of God. For, 
in his rule, and in the commands of his superior, he 
hears His voice. Hence, a religious who obeys his 
rule and his superior merits an eternal reward, not 
only by his prayers and by the performance of his 
spiritual duties, but also by his labors, his recrea- 
tions, and attendance at the door ; by his meals, 
his amusements, and his repose. For, since the 
performance of all these duties is dictated by obe- 
dience, and not by self-will, he does in each the 
holy will of God, and by each he earns an everlast- 
ing crown of glory. Oh ! how often does self-will 
vitiate the most holy actions ! Alas! to how many, 
on the day of judgement, when they shall ask, in 
the words of Isaiah, the reward of their labors — 
• 'Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not regarded ? 
why have we humbled our souls^ and Thou hast not 
taken notice?" — tohowmany,Isay,willtheAlmighty 



bo ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

Judge answer — "Behold, iu the day of your fast, 
your own will is found.'' What! He will say, do 
you demand a reward ? Have you not, in doing 
your own will, already received the recompense of 
your toils ? Have you not, in all your duties, in 
all your works of penance, sought the indulgence 
of your own inclinations, rather than the fulfilment 
of my will ? St. Bernard asserts, that if a person 
in the world did the fourth part of what is ordinarily 
done by religious, he would be venerated as a Saint. 
And has not experience shown that the virtues of 
many, whose sanctity shone resplendent in the world, 
faded away before the bright examples of the fervent 
souls whom, on entering religion, they found in 
the cloister ? 

A religious then, because he has consecrated 
himself to God by vow and does in all his actions 
the holy will of Grod^ can truely say, that he to- 
gether with all his works belong entirely to the 
Lord, having nothing more left to give Him. Thus 
it is that, like the blessed of heaven, he is constantly 
serving the Lord in his holy state of religion, in 
this Temple of God and in this Paradise on earth. 

2, The Blessed in heaven "are clothed with 
white robes ; and they have made them white in 
the Blood of the Lamb." Religious, too, put on a 
white robe on the day of their profession, which is 
of so great a merit before Grod, that it satisfies His 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 5T 

justice, canceling as it does all their sins and punish- 
ments due to them. It is on this account that the 
religious profession is called a second baptism by 
the divines and the Fathers of the church. ' 'It may 
be reasonably said," says St. Thomas, "that a per- 
son by entering into religion, obtains the remission 
of all sins. For, to make satisfaction for all sins, 
it is sufficient to dedicate oneself entirely to the 
service of God by entering religion, which dedica- 
tion exceeds all manner of satisfaction. Hence we 
read in the lives of the Fathers, that they who enter 
into religion obtain the same graces as those who 
receive baptism." (2. 20. ult. a. 3, ad 3.) 

One day St. Anthony, the hermit^ had a vision. 
It seemed to him that he was carried up to heaven 
by angels, but that many devils came and tried to 
prevent them from proceeding further, saying that 
Anthony had committed several sins in the world. 
But the angels answered that if they had anything 
to accuse him of, since he became a religious, they 
tnight tell it ; but as to the sins committed by him 
in the world, they were already pardoned by reason 
of his religious profession. 

3. Of the Blessed in heaven it is said, that "they 
are come out of great tribulation." Religious, too, 
may be truly said to have come out of many tribula- 
tions and afflictions. What is the world out of which 
religious are delivered ? Is it not full of mischief 



58 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

and misery? full of sin, the greatest of all miseries ? 
full of ambition, criminal liberty and dangers in- 
numerable, — a land of no Order, but of darkness, 
inconstancy and perpetual confusion ! Are not its 
laws and maxims extremely pernicious ? its exam- 
ples deadly ? Is it not full of men and devils who 
unite to induce us to sin ? How difficult for a 
Christian to live in such a wicked world without any 
attachment to its goods ? how difficult to dwell in 
the midst of pestilence and to escape contagion ? 
How difficult to stay the unsettled motions of the 
heart from all manner of defilement, where the al- 
lurements of vanity are so many ? How difficult to 
breathe the noxious and pestilential atmosphere of the 
world, and not to- catch spiritual infections ? Who 
touches pitch and is not defiled ? Every one knows 
that the damnation of numberless souls is attribut- 
able to the occassions of sin so common in the world. 
And now when religious, moved by the grace of 
God tried to leave Egypt — the world — when they 
endeavored to withdraw themselves from the cruel 
slavery of the world — the devil and the flesh ; when 
they were about to enter upon the land of promise — 
i the religious state — with what fierceness did not the 
cruel Pharaoh — the world — set upon them ? What 
furious stormes did not the devil raise against them? 
What violent opposition was not made by their 
relatives and friends? But great, very great 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 59 

indeed was the mercy of God over them. The Lord 
who called them out of Egypt to offer a perpetual 
sacrifice to Him in the Desert, fought for them, as 
if the cause was not theirs but His own. By the 
unspeakable strength of His Spirit ; by an inestim- 
able gift of His grace, He drew them from the vain 
conversations of the world, in which they were 
sometimes without God, or which is more detestable, 
against God, not ignorant of Him, but contemning 
Him. Under the command and the protection of 
God, they passed, **with palms in their hands," 
dry-shod through the Red Sea — the difficulties of 
the world,— they vanquished Pharaoh the devil, 
they overturned his chariots — carnal and secular 
desires — they took possession of the land of promise 
— the religious state ; there, in the retirement of 
the cloister — they are far removed from their fierce 
enemies, and sing a joyful song in thanksgiving to 
Him, *'Who cast the horse and rider into the sea." 
St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi had then good reason 
to embrace the walls of her convent, saying, ' *0 bless- 
ed walls ! blessed walls ! from how many dangers 
do you preserve me !" And blessed Mary Magdalen 
Orsini was right to say to those of her sisters in 
religion whom she saw laughing : * 'Laugh and re- 
joice, dear sister, for you have reason to be happy, 
being far removed away from the dangers of the 
world." 



60 ON THE advanta'jv;;< of 

4. Again, of the Blessed in heaven it is said : 
*'And He Who sitteth upon the throne, shall dwell 
over them." Of religious also the same maj be 
said. They live in the house of God ; they are His 
chosen people ; they are always mindful of His 
divine Omnipotence and Goodness; in all their 
trials they say constantly to the Lord: ''As the 
eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters — 
so are our eyes unto the Lord ouv God until He 
have mercy on us.'^ Psal. 122, 2. For this reason 
w^hen called upon by His servants, the Lord present- 
ly assists them ; He sustains and protects them ; 
He says to them : ''Fear not, I am thy protector 
and thy reward exceedingly great." (Gen. 15.) 
You shall be My people, and I will be your God ; 
I will give you one heart and one way, that you may 
fear Me all days, and that it may be well with you; 
I will close yoiir wounds, and give you health ; I 
will reveal to you the prayer of peace and truth ; I 
will cleanse you from all your iniquities, whereby 
you have sinned against Me, and despised Me ; you 
shall bo to Me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and 
a gladness before all the nations of the earth, that 
shall hear of all the good things which I will do to 
you. Thus saith the Lord : There shall be heard 
in this place the voice, of joy and the voice of glad- 
ness ; the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of 
the bride ; the voice of those that shall say : Give 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 6l 

glory to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, 
and His mercy endureth forever ; and the voice of 
those that shall bring their vows into the house of 
the Lord ; I will make an everlasting covenant with 
you, and I will not cease to do good to you, I will 
plant you in this land in truth, with My whole heart 
and with all My soul ; I will bring upon you all the 
good that I now speak to you. (Jerem. 32 and S3.) 
*'He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of My 
eye." (Zacharias TI, 8.) 

One day Jordanus, a man of great sanctity and 
the first general of the Black Friars after St. Domi- 
nic, clothed a novice in the holy habit of religion. 
Many of the young man's companions assisted at 
the ceremonies ; they wept bitterly during the dis- 
course which the blessed Jordanus made on the 
occasion. He told them that they should rather 
envy their friend, who had chosen the better part 
because religious serve God in the quality of gentle- 
men of the privy chamber to a Prince, with whom 
he is ever present and very familiar ; whilst secular 
people, if they serve at all, serve as it were in the 
kitchen, or in some other inferior office. Reflect, 
then, seriously on the matter, and consider that the 
door is open for you also, if you wish to enter, and 
sit at table with the King of Kings. These words 
made a deep impression upon them. One of the 
company entered immediately, and all the rest fol- 
lowed his example soon after. 



62 ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

5. The Blessed in heaven '*are in the sight of 
the Lamb." Religious too are always in the sight 
of the Lamb. The Son of God dwells among thein 
in the Blessed Sacrament. They dwell with Him 
day and night under the same roof. They often 
visit Him, — they medidate constantly upon the life 
and passion of Jesus Christ ; they imitate His ex- 
ample ; they conform themselves to His holy will ; 
they know that they are indebted to Him for the 
grace of their vocation and every good gift ; on this 
account thej cry with a loud voice : ** Salvation to 
our God Who sitteth upon the throne, and to the 
Lamb, benediction and glory and wisdom and 
thanksgiving, honor and power for ever and ever." 
(Apoc. Vn.) **They are in the sight of the Lamb," 
that is, they walk in the presence of God. For this 
reason, they are constantly on their guard not to 
offend the Lamb Who dwells with them. Those 
who live in the woild defile their souls with daily 
stains, which they do not even perceive ; for this 
is the property of a bad habit of sinning, that the 
more a man sins, the less he understands his sins, 
and the more he is delighted in sin. On the other 
hand, the more careful a man is of himself, the 
more he fears. However, ''should a religious be 
unfortunate enough," says St. Alphonsus, 'Ho fall 
into sin, he has the most efficacious helps to rise 
again. His rule which obliges him often to receive 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 63 

the sacrament of penance, his meditations, and 
spiritual readings, in which he is reminded of the 
eternal truths, are powerful helps to rise from his 
fallen state. 

*'2Vgain, should a religious go astray, his error 
will be instantly corrected ; the charitable admoni- 
tions of his superiors and companions in religion 
will soon make him repent of, and correct, his faults ; 
even the good example of his brothers will remind 
him continually of the transgression into which he 
has fallen. Surely, a^Christian, who believes that 
eternal life is the one thing necessary, should set a 
higher value upon these helps to salvation than 
upon all the dignities and kingdoms of the earth. 

'Moreover, as the world presents to seculars in- 
numerable obstacles to virtue, so the cloister holds 
out to religious continual preventives of sin. In 
religion the great care which is taken to prevent 
light faults is a strong bulwark against the commis- 
sion of grievous transgressions- If a religious re- 
sists temptations to venial sin, ho merits by that 
resistance additional strength to conquer temptations 
to mortal sin ; but if through frailty he sometimes 
yields to them, all is not lost — the evil is easily re- 
paired. Even then the enemy does not get posses- 
sion of his soul ; at most he only succeeds in taking 
some unimportant outpost, from which he may be 
easily driven ; while, by such defeats, the religious 



64 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

is taught the necessity of greater vigilance and of 
stronger defences against future attacks. He is 
convinced of his own weakness, and being humbled 
and rendered diffident of his own strength, he recurs 
more frequently and with more confidence to Jesus 
Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and His holy 
Mother. Thus from these falls the religious sustains 
no serious injury ; since, as soon as he is humbled 
before the Lord, Grod stretches forth Plis all-power- 
ful arm to raise him up. ''When he shall fall, he 
shall not be bruised, for the Lord puttcth His hand 
under him." On the contrary such victories over 
his weakness contribute to inspire greater diffidence 
in himself, and greater confidence in God. Blessed 
Egidius, of the Order of St. Francis, used to say, 
that one degree of grace in religion is better than 
ten in the world; because in religion it is easy to 
profit by grace, and hard to lose it ; while in the 
world grace fructifies with difficulty^ and is lost 
with ease." 

6. Furthermore, of the Blessed in heaven it is 
said: **And the Lamb shall rule them, and lead 
them to the fountains of the waters of life." The 
same is true of religious The Lamb of God in 
the Blessed Sacrament enlightens, inflames and 
strengthens them with the waters of His grace. For 
the Lamb of God is among religious like a father 
of a family, as He was among the Apostles when 



THE RELIGIOUS LITE. * 65 

living on earth. What else are religious com- 
munities but so many colleges of the Apostles and 
societies of Jesus. *'A religious," says St. Al- 
phonsus, **is bedewed more frequently. God, 
with what internal illuminations, spiritual delights, 
and sweetness of love does Jesus refresh the good 
religious at prayer, commmiion, in presence of the 
holy sacrament, and in the cell before the crucifix ! 
Christians in the world are lih.0" plants in a barren 
land, on which but little of the dew of heaven falls, 
and from that little the soil for want of proper cul- 
tivation seldom derives fertility. Poor seeulars^l 
they desire to devote more time to prayer, to receive 
the Holy Eucharist, and to hear the word of God 
more frequently ; they long for greater solitude, for 
more recollection, and a more intimate union of their 
souls with God. But temporal aifairs, human ties^, 
visits of friends, and restraints of the world, place* 
these means of sanctification almost beyond their 
reach. But religious are like trees planted in a. 
fruitful soil, which is continually and abundantly 
watered with the dews of heaven. In the cloisker- 
the Lord continually comforts and animates his 
faithful servants by infusing interior lights and. Gon>- 
solations during the time of meditation, sermons, 
and spiritual reading, even by means of the good: 
example of their companions. Well, then, might 
Mother Catherine of Jesus, of the holy Order of St. 
4* 



66 ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

Teresa, say, when reminded of the labors she had 
endured in the foundation of a convent, **God has 
rewarded me abundantly by permitting me to spend 
one hour in religion in the house of His holy 
Mother." 

Y. **They serve the Lord day and night." In 
heaven, to praise God is the constant occupation of 
the saints, and in religion, every action of the com- 
munity is referred to the glory of His name. **You 
praise God," says St. Augustine, **by the discharge 
of every duty ; you praise Him when you eat or 
drink; you praise him when you rest or sleep." 
Religious praise the Lord by regulating the affairs 
of the community, by assisting in the sacristy, or 
at the gate ; they praise the Lord when they go to 
table-; they praise Him when they retire to rest 
and sleep ; they praise Him in every action of their 
life;" 

r8.. **Th€y shall no more hunger or thirsty In 
heaven^ the blessed have nothing more to desire. 
They enjoy perfect peace and happiness. In reli- 
gion, by means of the holy vows, all the poisoned 
sources of .sin and irregular desires are cut off. By 
the vow of chastity, all the pleasures of sense are 
forever abandoned ; by the vow of poverty, the de- 
sire of riches is perfectly eradicated; and by the 
vow of ^obedience, the ambition of empty honors is 
titterly extinguished. * 'Worldly goods," St. Al- 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 67 

phonsus says, **can never satisfy the cravings of 
the human soul/' The brute creation, being des- 
tined only for this world, are content with the goods 
of the earth; but being made for God, man can 
never enjoy happiness except in the possession of 
the divinity. The experience of ages proves this 
truth ; for if the goods of this life could content 
the heart of man, kings and princes who abound in 
riches, honors, and earthly pleasures, should spend 
their days in the enjoyment of perfect bliss and hap- 
piness. But history and experience attest that 
they are the most unhappy and discontented of men, 
and that riches and dignities are always the fertile 
sources of fears, of troubles, and of bitterness. The 
Emperor Theodosius entered one day, unknown, 
into the cell of a solitary monk, and after some con- 
versation, said, ''Father, do you know who I am? 
I am the Emperor Theodosius.'* He then added, 
''Oh! how happy are you, who lead here on earth 
a life of contentment , free from the cares and woes 
of the world. I am a sovereign of the earth, but 
be assured. Father, that I never dine in peace." 

But how can the world, a place of treachery, of 
jealousies, of fears, and commotions give peace to 
men ? In the world, indeed, there are certain 
wretched pleasures which perplex rather than con- 
tent the soul; which delight the senses for a 
moment, but leave lasting anguish and remorse be- 
4 



68 ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

hind. Hence the more exalted and honorahle the 
rank and station a man holds in the world, the 
greater is his uneasiness, and the more racking his 
discontent. We may, then, conclude that the world, 
in which the heart-rending passions of ambition, 
advance, and the love of pleasures, exercise a cruel 
tyranny over the human heart, must be a place not 
of ease and happiness, but of inquietude and torture. 
Its goods can never be possessed to the full extent 
of our wishes ; and when enjoyed, instead of infus- 
ing content and peace into the soul, they drench her 
with the bitterness of gall. Hence, whosoever is 
satiated with earthly goods, is saturated with worm- 
wood and poison. 

Happy, then, the religious who loves God, and 
knows how to esteem the favor which He bestowed 
upon him in calling him from the world and placing 
him in religion ; where, conquering by holy morti- 
fication his rebellious passion, and practising con- 
tinued self-denial, he enjoys that peace which 
according to the Apostle, exceeds all the delights 
of sensual gratification— "The peace of God, which 
surpasseth all understanding." Find me, if you 
can, among those seculars on whom fortune has 
lavished her choicest gifts, or even among the first 
princes or kings of the earth, a soul more happy or 
content than a religious divested of every wordly 
affection, and intent only on pleasing God. He is 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 69 

not rendered unhappy by poverty, for he preferred 
it before all the riches of the earth ; he has volun- 
tarily chosen it, and rejoices ia its privations ; nor 
by the mortification of the senses, for he entered 
religion to die to the world and himself ; nor by 
tho restraints of obedience, for he knows that the 
renunciation of self-will is the most acceptable sacri- 
fice he could offer to God. He is not afflicted at 
his humiliations, because it was to be despised that 
he came into the house of God. *'I have chosen 
to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than 
dwell in the tabernacles of sinners." Retirement 
is to him rather a source of consolation than of sor- 
row ; because it frees him from the cares and 
dangers of the world To serve the community, to 
be treated with contempt, or to be afflicted with in- 
firmities, does not trouble the tranquillity of his 
soul, because he knows that all these make him 
more dear to Jesus Christ. Finally, the observance 
of his rule does not interrupt the joys of a religious, 
because the labors and burdens which it imposes, 
however numerous and heavy they may be, are but 
the wings of a dove, which are necessary to fly to, 
and be united with, his God. Oh ! how happy and 
delightful is the state of a religious whose heart is 
not divided, and who can say with St. Francis *'My 
God and my all." 

Let us bo persuaded that neither pleasures of 



to ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

sense, nor honors, nor riches, nor the world with 
all its goods, can make us happy. God alone can 
content the heart of man. Whoever finds Him 
possesses all things. Hence St. Scholastica said, 
**that if men knew the peace wnich religious enjoy 
in retirement, the entire world would become one 
great convent ;'' and St. Mary Magdalen dc Pazzi 
used to say, **that they would abandon the delights 
of the world, and force their way into religion." St. 
Laurence Justinian says, that **God has designedly 
concealed the happiness of the religious state ; be- 
cause if it were known, all would relinquish the 
world and fly to religion." 

The very solitude, silence, and tranquillity of the 
cloister, give to a soul that loves God a foretaste of 
Paradise. Father Charles of Lorena, a Jesuit of 
royal extraction, used to say that the peace which 
he enjoyed during a single moment in his cell was 
an abundant remuneration for the sacrifice he had 
made in quitting the world. Such was the happiness 
which he occasionally experienced in his cell, that 
he would sometimes exult and dance with joy. 
Arnolf, a Cistercian, comparing the riches and 
honors of the court which he had left with tho 
consolations which he found in religion, exclaimed: 
**How fiithfully fulfilled, Jc«us, is the promise 
which Thou hast made of rendering a hundred-fold 
to him who leaves all things for Thy sake !" We 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 71 

read of the monks of St. Bernard, who led lives of 
great penance and austerities, that they received, in 
their solitude, such spiritual delights, that they 
were afraid they should obtain in this life the reward 
of their labors. 

9. Finally, * * And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes." In heaven the Blessed shall have 
no more sorrows The Lord will dry up the tears 
they have shed in this life. This also the Lord 
will do for religious, even in this life by mixing 
the^'r tears of compunction and heartfelt sorrow with 
a holy joy of conscience and a profound peace of 
heart and other divine consolations. But it is 
particularly in the hour of death that religious will 
experience this truth, and appreciate the grace of 
their vocation to the religious life. * 'Some are de- 
terred," says St. Alphonsus, **from entering religion 
by the apprehension that their abandonment of the 
world might be afterwards to them a source of re- 
gret. But in making choice of a state of life, I 
would advise such persons to reflect not on the 
pleasures of this life, but on the hour of death ; 
which will determine their happiness or misery for 
all eternity. And I would ask, if, in the world, 
surrounded by seculars, disturbed by the fondness 
of children, from whom they are about to be separat- 
ed forever, perplexed with the care of their worldly 
affairs, and troubled by a thousand scruples of 
4* 



72 ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

conscience^ they can expect to die more contented 
than in the house of God, assisted by their holy 
companions, who continually speak of God, who 
pray for them, and console and encourage them in 
their passage to eternity ? Imagine you see, on the 
one hand, a prince dying in a splendid palace, at- 
tended by a retinue of servants, surrounded by his 
wife, his children, and relations, and represent to 
yourself, on the other hand, a religious expiring in 
his monastery, in a poor cell, mortified, humbled, 
far from his relatives, stripped of property and self- 
will ; and tell me, which of the two dies more 
contented ? Ah ! the enjoyment of riches, of honors, 
and pleasures in this life, does not afford any con- 
solation at tho hour of death, but rather begets grief 
and diffidence of salvation ; while poverty, humilia- 
tions, penitential austerities, and detachment from 
the world, render death sweet, and give to a Christian 
increased hopes of attaining that true felicity which 
shall never end. . 

Jesus Christ has promised that whosoever leaves 
his house and relatives for God's sake shall enjoy 
enternal life. **And every one that hath left house^ 
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
lands, for My sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, 
and possess life everlasting." A certain religious 
of the Society of Jesus being observed to smile on 
his death bed, some of his brethren who were present 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. ^3 

began to apprehend that he was not aware of his 
danger, and asked him why he smiled; he answer- 
ed, *'Why should I not smile^ since I am sure of 
Paradise ? Has not the Lord Himself promised to 
give eternal life to those who leave the world for 
His sake ? I have long since abandoned all things 
for the love of Him. He cannot violate His own 
promises. I smile, then, because I confidently ex- 
pect eternal glory." The same sentiment was ex- 
pressed long before by St. John Chrysostom, writing 
to a certain religious : **God," says the saint, **can- 
not tell a lie ; but He has promised eternal life to 
those who leave the goods of this world. You have 
left all these things ; why, then, should you doubt 
thefulfiUment of His promise ?" 

St. Bernard says that *4t is very easy to pass from 
the cell to heaven ; because a person who dies in 
the cell scarcely ever descends into hell, since it 
seldom happens that a religious perseveres in his 
cell till death, unless he be predestined to eternal 
happiness." Hence St. Lawrence Justinian says 
that religion is the gate of Paradise, because living 
in religion, and partaking of its advantages, is a 
great mark of election to glory. No wonder, then, 
that Gerard, the Brother of St. Bernard, when dy- 
ing in his monastery, began to sing with joy and 
gladness. God Himself says: * 'Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord." And surely religious, 



74 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

who "by the holy vows, and especially by the vows 
of obedience, or total renunciation of self-will, die 
to the world and to themselves, must be ranked 
amongst the number of those * 'who die in the Lord." 
Heacc^ Father Suarez, remembering at the hour of 
death, that all his actions in religion were performed 
through obedience, was filled with spiritual joy, and 
exclaimed that he could not imagine death could be 
so sweet and so full of consolation." 

You will ask : Must a religious not be afraid of 
Purgatory ? St Alphonsus answers : **The defects 
committed, after profession, by a good religious, 
are expiated in this world by his daily exercises of 
piety, by his meditations, communions, and morti- 
fications. But, if a religious should not make full 
atonement in this life for all his sins, his purgatory 
will not be of long duration. The many sacrifices 
which are offered for him after death, and the 
prayers of the community, will soon release him 
from suffering." If, for instance, a priest of the 
Redemptorist Society dies, every Father of the 
Province to which the deceased belongs has to say 
for him five masses, and the office of the dead. 
Supposing there are but one hundred Fathers in the 
Province, there will be said for him five hundred 
masses. Besides every lay-brother of the Society 
has to say for him the Rosary three times a day for 
a week, and all the good works performed by the 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. *t5 

members of that Province are offered up auring a 
whole week for the repose of the soul of the deceased 
Father. 

Moreover, in every house of the other Provinces 
of the Society a High Mass is celebrated and the 
office of the dead recited by all the Fathers and the 
rosary said by every lay-brother. Finally during 
the Octave of All-Saints, a solemn Requiem Mass 
is celebrated in every Church of the Society ; the 
office for the dead is also recited by all the Fathers, 
and the rosary by all the lay -brothers, for the de- 
ceased members of the Society. Similar pious cus- 
toms are found in all religious Orders and Congre- 
gations. Thus you see how true it is what St. 
Bernard says of a religious : ^'Purgatur citius^^ — his 
stay in purgatory will be short. 

But if the consolations and joys of religious are 
so great in the hour of their death, what will they 
be in heaven ? **A religious," says St. Bernard, 
**is more abundantly rewarded." '* Worldlings," 
says St Alphonsus, * *are blind to the things of God ; 
they do not comprehend the happiness of eternal 
glory, in comparison of which the pleasures of this 
world are but wretchedness and misery. If they 
had just notions, and a lively sense of the glory of 
Paradise, they would assuredly abandon their posses- 
sions — even kings would abdicate their crowns — 
and, quitting the world, in which it is exceedingly 



76 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

difficult to attend to the one thing necessary, they 
would retire into the cloister to secure their eternal 
salvation." 

Jesus Christ has promised, that ** whosoever shall 
leave all things for His sake, shall receive a hundred- 
fold in this life, and eternal glory in the next." 
Can you doubt His words ? Can you imagine that 
He will not be faithful to His promise ? Is He not 
more liberal in rewarding virtue than in punishing 
vice ? If they who give a cup of cold water in His 
name shall not be left without abundant remunera- 
tion, how great and incomprehensible must be the 
reward which a religious, who aspires to perfection, 
shall receive for the numberless works of piety which 
he performs every day! — for so many acts of morti- 
fication and of divine love which he daily refers to 
God's honor and glory ! Do you not know that 
these good works which are performed through 
obedience, and in compliance with the religious 
vows, merit a far greater reward than the good 
works of seculars ? 

Although the religious state has lost much of its 
primitive splendor, we may still say, with truth, 
that the souls who are most dear to God, who have 
attained the greatest perfection, and who edify the 
church by the odor of their sanctity, are, for the 
most part, to be found in religion. How few are 
there in the world, even amongst the most fervent^ 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 77 

who rise early in the morning to pray and sing the 
praises of God ! How few who spend five or six 
hours each day in these or similar works of piety! 
Who practise fasting, abstinence, and mortification ! 
How few who observe silence, or accustom them- 
selves to do the will of others rather than their own ! 
And^ surely, all these are performed by the religious 
of every Order : even in convents where the dis- 
cipline maybe more or less relaxed, many are found, 
who aspire to perfection, observe the rules, and per- 
form, in private, many works of supererogation. It 
is evident that the conduct of the generality of pious 
christians in the world cannot be compared with 
that of good religious. No wonder, then, that St. 
Cyprian called virgins, consecrated to God, the 
flower of the garden of the church, and the noblest 
portion of the flock of Jesus Christ. St. Gregory 
Nazianzen says, the religious '*are the first fruits of 
the flock of the Lord, the pillars and crown of faith, 
and the pearls of the church." Jesus Christ once 
said to St. Teresa: * 'Wo to the world, but for 
religious." Ruffinus says, **It cannot be doubted, 
that the world is preserved from ruin by the merits 
of religious." **I hold as certain," says St. Al- 
phonsus, *'that the greater number of the seraphic 
thrones, which were left vacant by the fall of the 
unhappy associates of Lucifer, will be filled by 
religious." Out of the sixty, who during the last 
3* 



78 ON THE ADVANTAGES OF 

century were enrolled in the catalogue of saint?, 
or honored with the appellation of blessed, all, with 
the exception of five or six, belonged to religious 
Orders. Brother Lacci, of the Society of Jesus, 
appeared after death to a certain person, and said 
that he and King Philip the Second were crowned 
with bliss, but that his own glory as far surpassed 
that of Philip, as the exalted dignity of an earthly 
sovereign is raised above the low station of an humble 
religious. 

*'The dignity of martyrdom, "says St. Alphonsus, 
*'is sublime; but the religious state appears to pos- 
sess something still more excellent. The martyr 
suffers that he may not lose his soul ; the religious 
suffers to render himself more acceptable to God. A 
martyr dies for the faith, a religious for perfection." 
'*It is true," says St. Bernard, *Hhe religious life 
is a martyrdom less frightful than that by which 
the body is tormented ; but it is more painful on 
account of its duration." One day our Lord showed 
to St. Gertrude in a vision, the militant and the 
triumphant church mingling together; each took 
his place according to his merits. Those who lived 
holy lives in the married state were with the Patri- 
archs; those who merited to know the Divine 
Secrets were with the Prophets ; those who labored 
for the instruction and edification of others were 
with the holy Apostles, and so on. But Gertrude 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. Y9 

observed that those who served God in the religiovs 
state were joined to the choirs of martyrs; and as 
these were specially adorned in -each member of 
their body in which they had suffered for their Lord, 
so the religious had some special reward for each 
act of self-restraint which they had performed, and 
they had the same merit as the martyrs, and received 
the same reward in heaven. For as they had no 
persecutors to shed their blood, they had offered 
themselves daily as a holocaust of sweetness to their 
God by their continued mortifications and restraints. 
Certainly if we consider the particulars of all the 
great advantages of the religious state, we shall 
find, that in this one benefit of religion all that we 
can possibly desire is, in a manner, contained. 
Here we have perfect remission of all our former 
offences as in a second baptism ; our flesh is tamed 
by sobriety ; we are at leisure to think of heavenly 
things, and are separated from all that may in any 
way hurt our soul. The will of God is the rule of 
our actions, and all kind of virtue is in continual 
practice. Here we receive direction from Superiors; 
light from particular rules ; abundance of inward 
grace : increase of merit ; comfort in fraternal 
charity; mutual assistance, and part of all good 
works which are performed among us, and all of 
which are greatly ennobled and embellished by the 
golden link of our vows, and crowned at last at the 



80 ON THE ADVANTAGES OP 

hour of death with that security which a state so 
remote from the world, and bordering so near upon 
heaven and heavenly things, usually brings to us. 
To the accomplishment and perfection of all this 
concur the particular love, favor, and protection of 
God and our Blessed Lady, — a thing wonderfully 
to be esteemed both for the profit and pleasure which 
accompany it. 

But the greater the merit of the religious life, 
and the more numerous are its advantages, the more 
ought we to consider by what means we may possess 
the field where so much treasure lies hidden ; for 
we cannot have it for nothing, but must buy it, and 
buy it at the price that has been set on it by our 
Saviour; viz: selling all we have and buying it 
therewith. This is most exactly performed by enter- 
ing religion, nor is it easy to say how it can be done 
otherwise. And we may here consider the goodness 
of God in not determining any sum of money or 
wealth, lest any person might be excluded from the 
purchase of a thing so precious ; on the contrary, 
He has, in His Infinite Wisdom, ordained that the 
price, the sum and total of all felicity should be, 
not so much to give, as rather to forsake what we 
have, so that whether we have much or little, or 
nothing at all, we may be admitted to thepurchase^, 
if we only leave all, and retain nothing to ourselves. 
But in reality we only make an exchange for what 



THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 



81 



is far better, purchasing so incomparable a treasure, 
at so easy a rate ; a treasure in which we shall have 
the price we gave returned and infinitely mu'tiplicd. 
With David praising the Lord for Ills wonderful 
gifts and exhorting the people of Israel to do the 
same, I say: Behold, now bless ye the Lord, all ye 
servants ot the Lord: Who stand in the house of 
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. In 
the nights lift up your hands to the holy places and 
bless ye the Lord." Ps. 133. ^'Praise ye the Lord, 
for the Lord is good; sing ye to His name, for it is 
sweet. For the Lord has chosen Jacob unto him- 
self; Israel for his own possession. Praise ye the 
Lord, Who alone does great wonders. Who brought 
Israel out of Egypt, with a mighty hand, and 
stretched-out arm. Who divided the Red Sea into 
parts, and brought out Israel through the midst 
thereof, and overthrew Pharaoh and all his host in 
the Red Sea. '^ — "Bless the Lord, my soul, and 
never forget all He hath done for thee. Blessed be 
the name of the Lord," because He has proved a 
Father, and Redeemer and Sanctifier to thee. 



CHAPTER V. 

ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

HNE day God commanded Moses, the leader of 
His people in the desert,^ to send twelve spies, 
to reconnoitre the land of promise, which was at no 
great distance. The messengers on their return 
gave a most flattering account of the beauty and 
and fertility of the land which they had seen, and 
as a proof produced a huge bunch of grapes and 
other rich fruits thereof, but at the same time, ten 
of them gave so frightful an account of its inhabitants 
and fortified towns, that the hearts of the people 
were struck with mortal fear. Those hopes of the 
promised land, which had hitherto sustained them, 
seemed to be no more, and the power of God, which 
had so miraculously preserved them, was entirely 
forgotten. They revolted against their leaders, 
and began to deliberate upon the choice which they 
should make of some other chief to lead them back 
to Egypt. In the meantime, Joshua and Caleb, 
two of the twelve spies, did all in their power to 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 83 

quiet the people, and to convince them of the tin- 
rcasonableness of their fears ; they assured them 
that, under the protection of God, who had shown 
Himself alvvays ready to support them, they had 
nothing to apprehend, and that no enemy, however 
formidable in appearance, would be able to stand 
against them. 

These men who by their misrepresentations of 
the land of promise, discouraged the people of God 
from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of 
those who, by misrepresenting or decrying the re- 
ligious state, discourage many souls from seeking 
in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and here- 
by securing to themselves a happy eternity. ** There 
are many," says St. Paul, **of whom I have often 
told you, (and now tell you with tears in my eyes) 
that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ." (Phi- 
lip. 3, 18.) 

I will now proceed to refute the objections usually 
brought by these enemies of the Cross against the 
religious State. For your greater entertainment, 
my dear reader, I will lay before you these objec- 
tions together with their refutation in a dialogue 
between Stanislas and Paul, two brothers. Stanislas 
feels himself called to the religious life and is about 
to embrace it. Paul, his elder brother^ noticing in 
Stanislas this inclination and determination, tries to 
dissuade him from carrying out his intention. Listen 
to what both have to say on the subject. 



84 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

Pavl. — Stanislas, is it not great madness on your 
part to embrace the religious life ? What can be- 
tray greater folly than to renounce the world, its 
goods, its comforts, its pleasures, and its honors for 
a life of obscurity and privation ? 

Stanislas. — Indeed, my heart feels overjoyed at 
the thought that I am not made for the world, but 
for God alone. How could I take any pleasure in 
the world, Mhich is so full of deceit. It makes 
many fair promises and performs nothing, and when 
it appears to perform, it comes far short of what it 
promised. As to the pleasures of the world, they 
seem sweet when beheld at a distance ; but indulge 
in them and at once you will taste their bitterness. 
All the goods and pleasures of this world are like 
a fisher's hook. The fish is glad while it swallows 
the bait and spies not the hook ; but no sooner has 
the fisherman drawn up his line, than it is torment- 
ed within, and soon after comes to destruction from 
the very bait, in which it so much rejoiced. So it 
is with all those who esteem themselves happy in 
their temporal possessions. In their comforts and 
honors, they have swallowed a hook. But a time 
will come when they shall experience the greatness 
of the torment which they have swallowed in their 
greediness. What means then must be adopted to 
avoid these hooks? — We must shun the bait. If 
we are greedy of the bait, we cannot avoid the hook 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 85 

which is hidden under it, that is, eternal death and 
perdition. Whatever is not Grod, or does not direct- 
ly tend to Him, serves as a bait to catch us. Go'i 
alone and those things that lead to God, are the 
only good things, which cannot be evil, nor used 
by the devil for our destruction. All other things 
may be wrested by the enemy to our overthrow and 
it is in them that he lays his snares. Our only safe 
course, then is to shun them all 

The things of this world are of such a nature 
that if a man once meddle with them, he can hardly 
shake them off again. The love for earthly things 
is like bird-lime to our spiritual wings. If we 
covet them, we cleave to them 

As love for these things necessarily follows the 
use of them, many sins are committed on account 
of them; such as robberies, usury, deceitful bar- 
gains, dissembling, flattery, slanders, and many 
other mean acts. While eager in the pursuit, or 
quiet in the joyful possession of wealth and honor, 
the course of our mind towards God, is retarded, 
and either we run not at all or so heavily and slowly 
that it is folly to say we run at all. Our soul can 
never be without some delight ; it will please itself 
either in base and unworthy things, or in things 
high and noble ; the more earnest it is in the pur- 
suit of high delights, the more it loathes the inferior ; 
and the more ardent its desire of the inferior, the 
A 



\ 



86 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

more coldly does it regard the higher. These two 
loves cannot dwell in one heart ; the seed of super- 
natural charity cannot grow, where it is choked 
by the thorns of base delights. As soon as the njind 
spends itself upon outward things, it wanders, as it 
were, out of itself ; and the farther it wanders from 
itself, the farther also it goes from God, because, 
the kingdom of God is within us. 

From all this we may easily understand the danger 
to which people are exposed in the world, and see 
plainly the happiness of a religious, who renounces 
all things ; for this general renunciation of all earth- 
ly goods, not only invites^ but even compels us to 
seek heavenly things. No doubt this is the chief 
reason why Jesus Christ advises us to forsake our 
kindred and sell all and give it to the poor; 'for 
knowing that the devil uses these as instruments to 
draw us to earthly things, our Redeemer bids us 
leave them all, that we may be forced, as it were, 
to seek heavenly things and keep our hearts fixed 
upon God. ' **Earth seems to me vile and contemp- 
tible when I contemplate heaven," said the great 
St. Augustine. St. Bernard having reached man's 
estate, was not slow to perceive that it is very hard 
to save one's soul in the world, and resolved to leave 
it. His parents and relatives loved him so much 
that, though full of faith and piety, they did their 
utmost to keep him amongst them. But Bernard 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 87 

made them understand so well the happiness and 
the advantages of the religious life, that he not only 
obtained their consent to his project of embracing 
it, but even prevailed on four of his brothers to fol- 
low him. It was only the youngest who remained 
in the paternal house. At the end of six months, 
these five young men quitted Chatillon-sur-Seine, 
and passed by Fontaine, near Dijon, to ask their 
father's blessing. They then set out for the Abbey 
of Citeaux, where they were to pronounce their 
vows. Crossing the court-yard of the Castle of 
Fontaine, they perceived little Nivard, their younger 
brother, playing with some children of his own age. 
** Adieu, little brother Nivard," said they, ''we are 
going away; we leave you to inherit all our Father's 
possessions; you shall have all our lands and all our 
wealth." *'Yes, yes," answered the wise child, 
*'you take heaven and leave me earth; the shares 
are not equal, and I will not be satisfied with mine.'* 
In fact, when little Nivard grew up, and his father 
had no need of his services, he went to rejoin his 
brothers in their monastery, and, in his turn, left 
earth for heaven. (Ratisbonne, Life of St. Bernard.) 
Truly, what greater madness than to resolve to 
perish with that which perishes ! What greater 
wisdom than, in time, to forsake that which sooner 
or later wo must forsake ! especially when we know 
that if we forsake it voluntarily, we shall have in- 



88 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

estimable rewards, whereas if we wait until it be 
taken from us, we may well look often for punish- 
ments, but certainly shall have we rewards. 

Paul. — But if you have plausible reasons for re- 
nouncing the world, what reasons can you have for 
renouncing your liberty, dearer than which there 
is nothing in this world — a liberty of which a certain 
poet has said, that all the gold in the world will not 
pay for it ? What madcess to make yourself the 
slave of another and put your feet in fetters ! 

Stanislas. — Indeed, it would never occur to me 
to sell my liberty for all the gold and treasures of 
this world. But I am ready to give it up for the 
everlasting goods of heaven and for the sake of God. 
The religious life is a life of obedience ; it is the 
yoke of Jesus Christ. Though a yoke, yet it is 
sweet ; though a burden, it is light. Without a 
yoke, without a burden no man can come to joy 
everlasting; ''for the way is narrow which leadeth 
to it," and it behoved Jesus Christ, the King of 
glory, to suffer and so to enter into His glory. The 
world has also its yoke and not only one, but many 
rough and heavy ones. The yoke of Jesus Christ, 
or the service of God is true freedom, and full of 
delights and comforts. By taking upon myself the 
sweet yoke of Christ, T shall receive a crown, for 
ashes; the oil ofjoy^ for mourning; the cloak of 
praise, for the spirit of sorrow ; and my heart shall 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 89 

rejoice, and my joy no man shall take from me. 
Let me explain. What can be more noble for a 
soul than to seek her own good? for one thing is 
good for one, another for another. Now what is 
the good of each being f It is that which makes 
the being better and more perfect. It is clear that 
inferior beings cannot make superior ones better and 
more perfect. Now the soul being immortal, is 
superior to all earthly, or perishable things. These, 
then, cannot make the soulbetter and more perfect, 
but rather worse than she is ; for he who seeks 
what is worse than himself, makes himself wors3 
than he was before. Therefore, the good of the soul 
can be only that which is better and more excellent 
than the soul herself is. Now God alone is this 
good-— He being Goodness Itself. He who possesses 
God, may be said to possess the goodness of all 
other things ; for whatever goodness they possess, 
they have from God. In the sun, for instance, you 
admire the light ; in a flower beauty ; in bread, the 
savor ; in the earth, its fertility. All these have 
their being from God. No doubt, God has re- 
served to Himself far more than He has bestowed 
upon creatures. This truth admitted, it necessarily 
follows that he, who enjoys God, possesses in him 
all other things ; and consequently, the very same 
delight which he would have taken in other things, 

had he enjoyed them separately, he enjoys in God, 
-4* 



90 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

in a for greater measure, and in a more elevated 
manner. For this reason, St. Francis of Assisium 
often used to exclaim : **My God and my All" — 
a saying to which he was so accustomed, that he 
could scarcely think of anything else, and often 
spent whole nights in meditating on this truth. 

Certainly, true contentment is only that which is 
taken in the Creator, and not that which is taken in 
the creature ; a contentment which no man can take 
from the soul, and in comparison with which all 
other joy is sadness ; all pleasure, sorrow; all sweet- 
ness, bitter; all beauty, foul; all delight, affliction. 
It is most certain that *'when face to face we shall 
see God, as He is," we shall have most perfect joy 
and happiness. It follows, then, most clearly, that, 
the nearer we approach to God in this life, tha more 
contentment of mind and the greater happiness of 
soul, we shall enjoy ; and this contentment and joy 
is of the self-same nature as that which we shall 
have in heaven : the only difFercnee is, that here 
our joy and happiness is small, whilst there it will 
be infinitely great. He, then, is a truly wise man, 
who, liere below, seeks God and endeavors to bo 
united as much as possible with His Supreme Good. 

But now let me ask, what course of life is better 
calculated than the religious state to find God and 
bring about the union of the soul with her Supremo 
Good ? It is precisely this manner of lifo which 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 91 

aims at nothing else than the service of God, or the 
exact fulfillmentof the divine will. 

What can be more reasonable than always to 
follow this course of life ; nay, even to bind our- 
selves by vows evermore to follow it? Happy fet- 
ters, blessed chains, these vows ! They are not the 
chains of a slave and the marks of captivity, as the 
children of the world falsely imagine, from whom 
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are hidden ; 
on the contrary, they are bright ornaments of those 
who are truly free — the children of God, to whom 
it is given to understand the mysteries of the king- 
dom of heaven. 

Certainly, he is free who does what he himself 
wills. A just man, though he obeys the law, does 
nevertheless what he wills, because he desires the 
good which is commanded, and does it, not induced 
by force of the outward command, but of h's own 
desire and inclination. 

When a man directs a traveller in his way, no 
one can say that he forces him to go that way, be- 
cause the traveller desires it far more, than he who 
directs him ; so whatever is suggested to a religious 
in his spiritual way and journey, either by word or 
writing, he takes it, as behooves him, for his own 
good and salvation, of which he is very desirous. 
The good which he thus does, he does willingly and 
cheerfully, receiving and performing the commands 



92 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

of his Superior, or of his rules, as if he did it natur- 
ally. So that there cannot be truer liberty than 
that which religious enjoy ; for all their obligations 
arc the result of their own election and free choice. 

But let me make this truth still plainer. No 
rational creatures enjoy a better and greater liberty 
than do the Saints in heaven ; for they cannot sin 
any more. True liberty does not consist in being 
able to commit sin. To be able to commit sin is no 
power at all ; it is a mark of weakness and misery, 
not of perfection. Grod Who is Supreme Liberty 
and Who can do all things, cannot sin. To have 
the power of sinning implies the possibility of be- 
coming a slave of sin. Now the more this power of 
sinning in man is lessened, the more this possibility 
of slavery is lessened. Therefore the more free he 
becomes ; and if this power of sinning in man is 
entirely taken away, his liberty is perfect. Such 
is the case of the Saints in heaven. 

Now this power of sinning is lessened by taking 
the vows of religion, especially that of obedience^ 
for by these vows we bind our will always to do the 
will of God. happy necessity, which continually 
urges man to do what is best. It is, therefore, a 
great advantage for a man's free will to be thus 
bound ; for by this means it is not destroyed, but 
rendered more perfect, conformed as it is, to the 
rule of all perfection — the will of God. I have then 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 93 

good reason to rejoice ia thus binding myself by 
vows. It is by them that I renounce that kind of 
liberty which I could not make use of without great 
danger to myself. Were I to walk towards a pre- 
cipice, my friends would do me a great favor by 
barring my passage in such a manner as to make it 
impossible for me to advance regardless of my own 
wishes. Now if I wish to run into the gulf of hell, 
I have but to follow the way of my own will. **If 
there were no self-will," says St. Bernard, * 'there 
would be no hell." Consequently to bar to me the 
passage that leads to destruction is to do me the 
gratest good. 

Hence, the vows of religion in no way de- 
prive a man of liberty. On the contrary, he who 
binds himself by them enjoys a more perfect liberty ; 
for true liberty consists in being master of one self, 
and he who is thus bound and united to God is, 
without doubt, more his own master than he who is 
not thus bound. To illustrate : 

Ask a man whose heart is set on earthly gain, 
what he thinks of those who renounce all to follow 
Christ and purchase heaven ; ask him, I say, whether 
they do wisely ? Certainly, he will answer, they 
do wisely. Ask him again, why he himself does 
not do what he commends in others ? He will an- 
swer : It is because I cannot. Why can you not ? 
Because avarice will not let me. It is because he 



94 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

is not free ; he is not master of himself nor of what 
he possesses. If he is truly master of himself and 
of what he has, let him lay it out to his own ad- 
vantage ; let him exchange earthly for heavenly 
goods ; if he cannot, let him confess, that he is not 
his own master, but a slave to his love of money. 

Again my inducement to make the vow of chas- 
tity is my hope, by the grace of God, to become 
so far master of myself as to keep this virtue. And 
what prevents another from taking this vow is, the 
fact that he does not believe that he is sufficiently 
master of himself to be able to keep it. Thus you 
see that of the two, I have the greatest power over 
myself to do what I wish, and to do what I believe 
I ought to do. But it is precisely in this that liberty 
consists. For the liberty which another keeps for 
himself, is not a true liberty ; it is a subjection, 
nay, even a slavery ; because, in reality, like a 
slave, he obeys his passion which has the mastery 
over him, and which drags him into sin. He is a 
slave to his passion ** which leads him captive to the 
law of sin.'' (Rom. VII, 23.) For he who is over- 
come is a slave to him who overcame him ; where- 
fore, '* whosoever sins is a slave to sin.'' (John 
VIII, 34.) 

It is the same in regard to obedience. What 
moves me to make the vow of obedience is the Con- 
fident hope by the assistance of God, to have so 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS, 95 

much power over myself as always to follow the will 
of my Superior. And that which prevents another 
from taking the same vow, is his conviction that he 
has not so much power over himself as to he able to 
renounce his own will, and to submit to that of 
another. You see then clearly, that I have more 
power over myself and more real liberty by sub- 
jecting myself to the yoke of obedience, than has 
the other person who is not able to do so. As 
therefore all those are slaves, who can only do as 
vice suggests, so^ on the other hand, all those are 
truly free, who live according to virtue. Thus there 
is a real greatness and dignity in carrying the yoke 
of obedience ; it is indeed this kind of yoke to curry 
which the Holy Ghost exhorts us in these words : 
**Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into 
her chains ; bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, 
and be not grieved with her bands." (Eccles. VI, 
25.) Thrice happy chains, that give liberty to 
those who bear them ! 

It is, then, quite certain, that the greatness of 
our liberty is in proportion to the power which our 
will has to will and to do wbat God wishes us to do. 
But let it be remembered, that the greater this 
power is, the greater is also the goodness and per- 
fection of our will; and the greater the perfection 
of our will, the greater is also the perfection of all 
its good actions ; for the goodness and merit of our 



96 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

actions, is in proportion to the goodness of our will. 
To illustrate: — A man who is hardened in sin 
offends God more grievously when he sins, than 
another who sins out of frailty or from a sudden 
outburst of passion, because he sins by a will de- 
termined to evil, which is to sin against the Holy 
Ghost; so, in like manner, all those good actions 
which proceed from a will quite determined to what 
is good, are, doubtless, of far greater perfection and 
merit^ than any others can be. The greater the 
artist, the more valuable is his work. So before 
God, the better the will, the better and more 
meritorious are all its good actions. 

Another illustration of what has been said: Every 
action of Jesus Christ is of an infinite merit, be- 
cause in Him the Divinity is so united to the 
Humanity as to make but one person. If we sub- 
stitute, for our will, the will of God as the rule and 
basis of our actioas, every one of them will be, as 
it were, of an infinite value, being, as they are, 
actions of the Divine will rather than of our own. 
Now, it is precisely by obedience that we substitute 
the Divine will for our own ; and thus acquire infal- 
libly that constancy determination of the will to ad- 
Hierc to what is good, which constancy is looked up- 
on by theologians as one of the chief conditions of 
virtue. 

By obedience we acquire this goodness or perfec- 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 9T 

tion of the will much faster than by any other 
means. Let a soul practise, for a certain length of 
time, all virtues without practising that of obedience, 
and let another soul, during the same length of 
time, practise perfect obedience, and rest assured, 
that the latter will surpass the former in merits, in 
grace, in union with God, and in heavenly glory 
hereafter, far more than the light of the sun sur- 
passes that of the dimmest star. A soul earnestly 
endeavoring to practise perfect obedience, will, by 
degrees, become so united with God as not to be 
able to will except what God wills ; but not to be 
able to will except what God wills, is, as it were, 
to be what God is, with whom to will and to he is 
but one and the same thing ; for to whomsoever 
power is given to become a child of God, to him is 
also given power not, indeed, to be God Himself, but 
to be what God is. 

To a soul thus disposed, the Lord grants such 
great favors as it is impossible to describe. He 
gives her a faith so lively, a confidence so firm, a 
charity so ardent, a zeal for tho salvation of her 
neighbor so burning, a degree of prayer so sublime, 
a prudence so unusual, a courage in all difficulties 
so invincible, a peace so profound, a humility and 
simplicity of heart so admirable, and sometimes 
even a spirit so prophetic, together with a gift of 
performisg miracles so extraordinary as to make 



\ 

98 ANSWEFwS TO OBJECTIONS. 

every one exclaim : **Truly, that soul can say with 
St, Paul: *I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in 
me.'" (Gal. ii., 20.) 

Father Nieremberg relates that Father Louis de 
Guzman, when a novice, was very much tempted 
to leave the Novitiate and return to the world. 
Now, it happened one day that he saw a little bird 
which had escaped the cage and seemed to enjoy its 
liberty very much. But, all on a sudden, there 
came a hawk and carried it off and devoured it. At 
this moment Father Louis felt an inspiration of God 
which told him that, were he to return to the 
world and enjoy his liberty, he would fall into the 
snares of the devil, and thus lose not only the true 
liberty of the children of God, but even the kingdom 
of heaven itself. 

Paul, — But is there not more than one road to 
heaven ? Can you not find God and serve Him in 
every place ? Can you not observe the command- 
ments of God and do His holy will in every state of 
life just as well as in the religious state ? Why do 
you wish to take the most difficult road? 

Stanislas. — You say that I can serve God every- 
where ; why then should I not select the best of all 
places, the house of the Lord itself? Would you 
not prefer to serve a king in his palace as a great 
lord rather than on his farm as a common servant ? 
According to your opinion, one who is a slave of the 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 99 

Turks, might serve God just as well and be satis- 
fied ; and yet all who have the misfortune to fall 
into their slavery, try to obtain means for their de- 
livery, in order to serve God and keepHis com- 
mandments in a far better country. 

Paul. — Be that as it may ; you cannot deny 
that one may be saved in every state of life ? 

Stanislas. — I cannot agree with you in that. I 
know there is no express command to embrace the 
religious life ; every one is left free to do so or not. 
But if a man has to undertake a long voyage, and 
if the admiral of the fleet should invite him into 
his own new and strongly built vessel, well provid- 
ed with all necessaries, do you think he would 
refuse his courtesy and throw himself into a weather- 
beaten vessel, whose sea worthiness has been declared 
doubtful ? Would he not rather, with many thanks, 
accept the offer ? or even perhaps entreat to be ad- 
mitted? Much more, therefore, to avoid the ship- 
wreck of the soul, which is a loss eternal, ought I to 
choose that state which may carry me safe through 
the dangerous rocks and seas of this world. St. 
Gregory says, that some cannot otherwise be saved. 
Not every state of life suits every person. The 
shortest and safest road to heaven is undoubtedly 
tbe best. The religious state is that road, and he 
who chooses it must certainly be believed to have 
chosen the better part. 



100 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

Pauh — You are too much afraid of the world ; 
you represent it to yourself worse than it is in reality. 
I know many living in the world who most exactly 
comply with all the duties of their state ; who give 
to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what 
belongs to God. No one could live more safely in 
the world than you ; for you are filled with the fcax 
of the Lord; you are possessed of great talents and 
a truly practical judgment. 

Stanislas, — You know, that St. John the Apostle 
fitly divides the whole kingdom of this world into 
three parts ; he says that '*all that is in this world, 
is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence 
of the eyes, and the pride of life." How foul and 
abominable a body must that be, which is composed 
of three so foul and abominable members ! I can- 
not be deceived in believing what this great Apostle 
teaches of the world, nor can I be wrong in with- 
drawing from such a pestiferous place. 

Paul, — No, I cannot agree with you. According 
to your opinion, all would have to leave the world for 
the convent, and if all should become religious, the 
world would perish. 

Stanislas. — What do you think would become 
of the world if there were no mechanics and no 
farmers, but if all were kings, presidents, or princes? 
And yet you would prefer to be a Nobleman rather 
than a simple peasant. Religious constitute the 



■ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 101 

nobility of heaven, and are the princes of the people 
of God. Every one, therefore, should, were he 
called, embrace the religious state, and thank God 
for the grace of calling him to be a nobleman and 
prince in His kingdom. 

You say : If all should become religious, the 
world would perish. Would to God that all would 
become religious ; heaven, the city of God, would! 
much sooner be filled and the end of the world 
hastened. Were it not better that the Kingdom of 
God were come, which we daily beg, and that God 
were all in all. And if it should so happen that all 
should be chaste and lead a single life, it would be 
an evident sign of the will of God, that the world 
should soon end; and truly, it could not come to a. 
better end ! 

But fear not lest all should be virgins. Yirginity 
is a hard thing, and because it is hard, it is rare. 
There are many to whom God , out of Bis secret 
judgments, does not vouchsafe so great a benefit ;; 
others He calls to be partakers of it, and they give^ 
no ear to His calling, but charmed with the pleasures- 
of this life, cannot free their feet from the nets i'ni 
which they are entangled. And not only does the^ 
infirmity of man hinder this benefit from becoming 
ordinary, but it belongs also to the provident wis- 
dom of the Almighty to have a care, that there be 
always some to attend to posterity, so long as it is 
5* 



102 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

His will that this world should last. He manifests 

His Providence in watching over the very beasts 

mfA worms of the earthy preserving everything in 

%ind as it was created. So no man can fear that 

^ God will forsake mankind. 

Paul. — I have often heard priests speak un- 
favorably of Religious Orders ; many apriest opposes 
them as much as he can, saying that they put their 
8cythc into other people's harvests, etc. Why would 
you, then, embrace a state which is so much dis- 
liked by many otherwise excellent priests ? 

Stanislas. — Be not surprised at such murmurs 
and complaints. We read in the Gospel that Martha 
murmured at Mary^ who had chosen the better part. 
The number of priests who oppose Religious Orders 
can be but very small. They repent, in the end, 

^|;<3!l^ what they said or did against them. Guillaume 
jde Saint Amour published a libel against the Re- 
ligious Orders of his time. But at the end of his 
life, he is said to have confessed that he had been 
actuated by envy at the Mendicant Orders ; and to 
prove that he repented from his heart, he left his 
body to be buried with the Friar Preachers. In 
like manner, Laurentius Anglicus, after persecut- 
ing the Friars, when he came to die at Paris, left 
them all his books, and, wonderfully penitent, de- 
sired to be buried in their monastery. The senti- 
ments of all good priests for Religious Orders are 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 103 

expressed in the following remarkable words of 
Bourdoise, a celebrated parish-priest in the reign 
of Louis XIII. : '*It is an injustice/' he says^ *'when 
priests prevent the people from applying to monks. 
It does not edify them when they hear priests com- 
plain of monks, as if there were not enough work 
for both priests and monks. As for me, if I may 
be allowed to say what I think, in my conscience, 
I believe that without monks, that is, if there had 
not been monks, we should at present be without 
faith and without religion, or at least a hundred 
times worse than we are. I hope I may not give 
displeasure to priests, but God grant that they do 
not deceive themselves. If a priest have any por- 
tion of the spirit of the tonsure, if he does hot want 
monks in his parish, he will at least take care to 
live in peace and good understanding with them." 

Another secular priest, Peter of Blois, speaking 
of the monks in general, says: ** The life of monks, 
of whom there are divers kinds, — for th^ tunic of 
Joseph is of many colors, and the spouse of Christ 
is clothed with variety — I venerate with all the 
affection of my heart, and I embrace their feet with 
the arms of most devout humility ; for I kndw that 
above all seculars, whether clerics or laics, they ad- 
here more closely to the footsteps of the Apostles ; 
truly, in the bowels of Christ every holy Order I 
love, I magnify, I venerate and adore. For a long 



104 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

time I used to have always with me some man of a 
Religious Order, a witness of my conversation, and 
a guardian-angel of my body and soul ; but above 
all, I loved one, dear to Grod and men, who from 
being rich made himself poor for Christ. In his 
friendship, I glory, preferring it to all my relations 
with the court in the palace. Doubtless he is the 
friend of God. Honey and milk are on his tongue, 
and his countenance is composed to a joyful serenity, 
with a certain expression of angelic peace. His 
memory I place as a seal upon my heart." (Peter 
Blois Cont. Depravatorem.) 

Indeed, you will search in vain through all 
Christian history to find an example of a good priest 
or prelate who, besides evincing a personal afiection 
and reverence for the Religious Orders, did not re- 
cognize and proclaim loudly, like the illustrious 
confessor of the Rhine, Clement Augustus de Droste- 
Vischering, Archbishop of Cologne, that monasteries 
are absolutely necessary to each diocese, for various 
important and indispensable ends of pastoral care, 
which can never be accomplished without them. 
The ancient bishops, like Pulgentius, even built 
monasteries in which they might live with monks 
when their other duties were fulfilled, so anxious 
were they to perfect themselves in that discipline 
which they were bound to maintain amongst the 
dergy. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 129 

frightful and obstinate murder committed by the 
parents of the child. 

'*Wo, three times wo, wo forever to those parents, 
who make division with their children, when they 
hear My voice ! Happiness and benediction for 
ever to those parents and their children who hear 
and receive it." 

In his exposition of the 4th and 25th Psalms, 
Father Alexander Faia, of the Society of Jesus, re- 
lates that at Tudela, in Old Castile, a very rich man 
had an only son, whom he had destined to perpetuate 
the family. But the son, being called to the Society 
of Jesus sought admission with so much earnest- 
ness that the Superiors at length received him. 
After the novitiate, the father came and made so 
many complaints that, to please him, the son re- 
turned to the world. But he felt himself again 
called to forsake the world. Being unwilling to 
return to the Society, he entered into the Order of 
St. Francis. But the father induced him the second 
time to renounce the religious state. Listen to what 
happened. The father wished the son to marry a 
certain person ; the son preferred another for his 
wife. They began to contend and quarrel with each 
other; and one day in a dispute the son killed the 
father ; he was convicted of the crime, and executed 
on a gibbet. 

**0 ! how many families," exclaimed St. Alphon- 



130 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

sus, **have been ruined on account of parents 
making children give up their vocation ! How many 
parents shall we see condemned in the valley of 
Josaphat, for having thus caused their children to 
lose their vocation ! What greater source of consola- 
tion can parents have than to see a son or a danghter 
consecrated to God, and leading the life of a saint?'' 

Paul. — Stanislas, I think this instruction is well 
calculated to move father and mother to give you 
their consent and blessing; but should they not do so, 
would you feel justified in leaving them without 
their consent? 

Stanislas. — Irregular affection towards parents 
or kindred is one of those powerful engines used by 
the devil to undermine religious vocations. St. 
Jerome fitly calls this affection the ram or warlike 
instrument to batter down piety and devotion. All 
those who feel themselves called to the religious life 
must arm themselves against this great temptation. 
Let us, then, be firmly convinced, and hold as an 
infallible maxim that when once assured of the will 
of God calling us to religion, whatever afterwards 
occurs to divert or draw us from our vocation, must 
be a devilish temptation. He tempts all, but much 
more so those of whom it is written : * 'His food is 
the elect." It is one of his greatest artifices to 
conquer by the importunities of those who are par- 
ticularly dear to us. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 131 

To overcome this temptation, we must make the 
following reflection. Our love towards God must 
have no limits ; it admits of an infinite increase ; 
hence our charity should become every day more 
fervent towards Him Who commands us to love 
Him * 'with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and 
with all our strength," but the love of our neighbor 
has its limits ; for we are commanded to love our 
neighbor as ourselves ; and to outstep these limits, 
by loving him as much as we love God^ were a 
crime of the blackest enormity. **If a man come 
to Me," says our Lord, **and hate not his father 
and mother, and wife and children, and brethren 
and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be 
My disciple," and **he that loveth father or mother 
more than Me, is not worthy of Me." Parents, no 
doubt, are to be affectionately loved and highly 
respected ; but religion requires that supreme honor 
and homage be given to Him alone who is the 
Sovereign Creator and universal Father, and that 
our love for our parents be referred to our eternal 
Father who is in heaven. Should, however, our 
parents be at any time opposed to the will of God in 
our regard, we are, of course, to prefer the will of 
God to the desires of our parents, always keeping 
in view the divine maxim: **we ought to obey God 
rather than men." It is better to sadden our 
parents than the sweet heart of Jesus ; it is better 
to have them for our enemies than God. 



132 ANSWESRS TO OBJECTIONS. 

It IS, therefore, an undoubted principle of theology, 
that in this case we owe no obedience at all to our 
parents. Divines give solid reasons for this. St. 
Thomas Aquinas says, that as to the nature of the 
body, all men are equal among themselves ; a 
servant is not inferior to his master, nor a child to 
his parent. Hence no man can reasonably be com- 
pelled either to marry or to live a single life for 
other men's or his own father's pleasure. 

As to the commandment to honor our parents, 
we say with St. Augustine, that we must both honor 
our parents, and yet, without any want of piety, may 
disregard them, in order to preach the kingdom of 
heaven, because we honor them according to their 
rank and degree ; but when that honor becomes an 
obstacle to the love of God, then we must neglect it 
and shake it off. 

The power of parents over their children is a 
participation of the authority of God, fronn whom 
all paternity is derived ; it is but the power of a 
deputy or delegate. Therefore, if God commands 
one thing and a parent another, no one can doubt 
that the power and jurisdiction of a parent ceases, 
because it is opposed to the will of Him who gave 
that power. God, then, is the cause, and the only 
cause, why it is lawful for us not to obey our parents, 
for '*who loveth father and mother more than Me 
is not worthy of Me." ''Though your mother,'* 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 109 

Stanislas. — No man of common sense and ex- 
perience will, for a moment, entertain the illusion, 
that abstemiousness and constant good order in all 
things have any tendency to shorten human life. 
Who are those that are almost continually troubled 
with indigestion, and restlessness and are oftener 
and more dangerously sick? Are they not those 
who live luxuriously and on dainties ? Religious 
people, besides the spiritual blessings which they 
enjoy, have also better health of body, than those 
wo are delicately brought up, and commonly con- 
sidered happy. These are as if they were bred in 
a quagmire, tender and effeminate, and more subject 
to all kinds of diseases. I know some persons, and 
I have heard of many, far more delicate than my- 
self who embraced the religious life and became 
very strong and robust in it, and complied with all 
its obligations for more than fifty or sixty years. 
Regularity in every thing, which is nowhere greater 
than in religion, is, according to all experience, the 
best preservative of life. Every one knows that as 
grief and passion exhaust the spirits and are, as it 
were, a torture or drag upon the life of man, so the 
pea.JG of mind of a religious, and the happiness of 
his soul must necessarily preserve health and pro- 
long life on account of the affinity between soul and 
body. Daniel and his companions abstained from 
the meat and wine of the King of Babylon, and 
4 



110 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

succeeded better with beans and water, than all the 
other children who ate of the King's meat. The 
numerous examples of longevity amongst religious 
who practised the most rigid austerities ought to be 
conclusive on this point. 

Besides, every Religious Order takes particular 
care not only of the soul of each of its members, 
but also of the body. I know for certain that the 
best parents could not take more and better care of 
the health of their children than Religious Orders 
do of that of their subjects. Not long ago I hap- 
pened to read the rule of a certain Religious Order 
on this subject, and to my great astonishment I 
learned, that the Superiors were bound to sell even 
the chalices of the church, if necessary, in order to 
defray the expenses for the preservation or recovery 
of the health of their subjects. 

Paul. — I know several religious persons, who, in 
the discharge of their hard obligations, have under- 
mined their health completely. God does not al- 
ways work miracles. 

Stanislas. — And do you not see and hear every 
day that far more persons in the pursuit of worldly 
affairs, and in the service of the world, ruin their 
health and come to an early grave ? But to shorten 
and even to close our life in the service of God, is 
to save it. * 'Whosoever shall lose his life for My 
sake and for the Gospel, shall save it." (Mark. 8, 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. Ill 

35.) If soldiers generously sacrifice their lives in 
the service of an earthly King, how much more 
generously ought not we to sacrifice our lives in the 
service of our heavenly King, Who first sacrificed 
His for our sake ? It matters very little to live 
long, but it is an affair of the greatest importance 
to lead a holy life. A holy life is a long life before 
God, because He will crown it with eternal hap- 
piness. He who discovers a gold mine becomes 
richer in a day than another who worked hard for fifty 
years. The religious life is that hidden treasure, 
or goldmine, of which the Gospel speaks ; or rather, 
religion contains an infinite treasure, because it has 
within it such abundance of wealth, not of one kind 
only, but all manner of wealth heaped in a mass 
together. Now, he who finds a treasure has, as I 
have just said, great advantage over one who is 
rich by trading or otherwise. For he who trades 
acquires his wealth by much pain and labor, runs 
many risks and is a long time collecting it ; but he 
who finds a treasure lays hold on it at once, without 
labor or danger, and is in a moment raised to exces- 
sive wealth. So secular people increase their stock 
of virtue, by much and long striving, and some- 
times they suffer shipwreck, and in one hour lose all 
that they had laid up in many years, by falling into 
one mortal Fin, a misfortune of frequent, yea, of 
daily occurrence, and no wonder, in a sea so full of 



112 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

shoals and tempests ! One, however, who has entered 
into religion has found a great treasure. The state 
itself and vocation breathe, as it were, into his heart 
the spirit of poverty, and particular affection for 
chastity and obedience and other virtues as things 
contained in the very spirit of religion. To die after 
having lived in this state but a short time, is to leave 
this world with immense merits for eternal life. 
The wordly minded do not understand this ; it is 
hidden from them. Did they but know what it is^ 
they could hardly resist the desire of laying hold on 
this treasure of the religious life. To spend then 
but a short life in religion, is far better than to live 
ten times longer in the world. 

Paul. — ^I know several young persons who 
entered into religion, with the best intentions and 
in good health , but were dismissed, after some time 
on account of ill health. "Were the same to happen 
to you, you would become a burden to yourself and 
to others. 

Stanislas. — I thought of this myself and felt a 
little afraid. So I went to see a holy priest, a 
Superior of a religious community, and consulted 
him on the subject. He gave me the following 
reply : **Novices," he said, *'who are too easily dis- 
contented, who murmur, complain and fret at the 
least inconvenience, who are too much concerned 
about their health and too tender of themselves will 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 113 

never make good members in religion. This tender- 
ness or superfluous love for their bodies makes them 
too attentive not only to the least ill which they 
may feel, but will also fill them constantly with 
apprehension as to those which might happen^ caus- 
ing them to lament and murmur that they are not 
well treated and assisted, that they want this or 
that. Such like reflections are far from generous 
minds. Hence, it is an infallible maxim, that per- 
sons tender for their bodies, are also of a pusil- 
lanimous mind. This proceeds from a want of 
generosity. Such persons generally fill the monas- 
tery with tears, complaints and lamentations; they 
are usually melancholy and fretful, very often dis- 
couraged, taking difficulties for impossibilities and 
believing everything that is disagreeable to be insup- 
portable ; and to maintain their cause, they form 
many sad and scandalous complaints against the 
rules, and those who govern. If they are reproved 
for their softness of disposition and their tiresome 
humor, they redouble their complaints, murmuring 
that there is no charity because others do not weep 
and lament with them, or pity them, and they pro- 
test that they have very great cause to be afflicted. 
Should they be sick, if others are not occupied with 
describing the immensity of their sufferings, and 
with running up and down to seek every remedy 
their fancy suggests, they look upon themselves, as 
4* 



114 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

of all others, the most miserable and neglected; 
then they think every one is devoid of pity. In 
fine, persons of this description are always on the 
watch to see if more be done for others than for 
themselves, self-love suggesting to their fancy that 
there is not so much done for them as is requisite. 
This softness both of body and mind is one of the 
greatest evils in the religious life ; and superiors 
must be very careful not to receive those who are 
considerably attacked with it ; because they do not 
wish to be cured refusing to make use of what could 
r:ive them health. So you see, my young friend, 
that no Order could keep a sickly novice of this 
•disposition. 

Besides there are certain diseases which cannot 
be properly treated in a religious community, or 
which it is easy to foresee will ultimately affect the 
mind. No novice afflicted witii them can reasonably 
require to be suffered to remain. Let such a novice 
not repine, if ho is dismissed — he will not fail to 
receive his reward for his good desire and the efforts 
which he made to become a religious. If the Lord 
has chosen the religious state as a channel through 
which He bestows great graces. He has not_, for 
that, deprived Himself of the means to bestow just 
as great graces upon souls of a good will, who are 
forced by circumstances to live in the wor]d. Let 
them build for themselves a convent out of the will 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 115 

of God; let them stay in it in all patience, and the 
Holy Ghost will not fail to direct and assist theni^^ 
But novices, the wise Superior continued, whose 
constitution is delicate, or whose health has been so 
impaired during the time of their probation, as to 
leave no hope of recovery, will be allowed to remain 
provided they be generous ftouls. Now generous 
souls do not easily complain ; they earnestly try to 
be patient and resigned to the holy will of God ; 
they tell their sufferings without exaggerating, leav- 
ing the care of applying the remedies to the one 
charged with it, and contenting themselves with 
suffering lovingly and keeping close to God. Such 
souls as these show that they are in earnest in ap- 
plying to perfection ; they give edification to every 
one, and draw down the blessing of God upon a 
whole community^ Therefore, they are suffered to 
remain in the convent. 

Hence it is that some holy founders of Religious 
Orders, admitted into their Orders such weak, 
delicate, and deformed persons, as were generous 
souls, gifted with a strong mind, a firm will and 
good heart. Such souls if afflicted with bodily in- 
firmities, become great saints, true gems in a religi- 
ous community, and a source of great blessings for 
the whole Order. Assuredly, no Superiors will have 
so little piety as to frustrate the great design of God 
in such souls by dismissing them from His House 



116 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

where He called them that in them might come true 
what is said in the Gospel : *This sickness is not 
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son 
of God may be glorified by it.' " (John. 11, 4.) 

This consoled me very much, and my fears van- 
islied altogether when, a few days ago, I happened 
to read the sentiments of St. Alphonsus on this sub- 
ject. This Saint was greatly afflicted at seeing a 
good novice sick, and when the Fathers, at times, 
wished to send him home, the Saint himself became 
his advocate. **There is," said he, *'no law ex- 
cluding from the house of God one who has left all 
to follow Him. If the physicians employed, and 
the remedies used in the Order, cannot restore his 
health, it is not probable that it will improve under 
the paternal roof, and if God wills that he should 
soon die, it is better for him to die in religion than 
in the midst of the world. What mother was ever 
60 unnatural as to expel her child from the house 
for being sick." It was the opinion of the Saint, 
that those novices who were pious and patient in 
illness, assisted the Order by their example; for as 
they were themselves pleasing to God, they drew 
down His blessing on others, and when a fervent 
novice was at the point of death, St. Alphonsus was 
never distressed, but rejoiced in the assurance that 
such a one was happy. But when a sick novice 
wished to leave the Order, he granted the permis- 



ANSWERS TO ODJKCTIONS. 11 T 

eion only with pain. (Tannoja's Life of St. Alphon- 
sus,TI vol, cliapt. 63.) 

Now, my dear brother, should I become sick, I 
will try to be a generous soul — ^I ..^jH beseech the 
Lord earnestly to give me grao^ J^jy 'inply with the 
designs which He has in thus afflicting me, in order 
that His own glory and my sanctification may result 
from it. "Because He hoped in Ble," says the 
Lord, "I will deliver him, and 1 will protect him. 
He shall cry to Me, and I will hear him; I am with 
him in tribulation; I will deliver him, and I will 
glorify him ; I will fill him with length of days, 
and I will show him My salvation." (Ps. 90.) 

Paul. — Stanislas, did you ever tell father and 
mother about your intention ? 

Stanislas. — I have not done so as yet for very 
good reasons. 

Paul. — What good reason can a dutiful child 
have to conceal such a design from his parents? 
Does not this betray a great want of filial afi*ection ? 
In this you certainly do not follow the example of 
pious children. I read, not long ago, how Wences- 
laus, the son of Leo, a celebrated General of the 
Emperor Ferdinand III. acquainted his parents, 
even in his childhood, of his intention of becoming 
a religious. I cannot account for your secrecy. 

Stanislas. — I suppose you read at the same time, 
how the parents of Wenceslaus rejoiced at seeing 



118 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

their son called to so holy a life ; how they thanked 
God for this great grace how they did all in their 
power to enco'^'qige him in his holy resolution, and 
how they ^ W his entrance into religion, and 

huw when Ox. ..^^ point of leaving for the Society of 
Jesus, his mother told him that, should he leave 
the Society, she would never look upon him again 
as her son. 

St. Louis of Gonzaga was the oldest child of the 
family. However when his mother, the marchioness 
of Castiglione, saw that her son was called to the 
Society of Jesus, she endeavored to facilitate his 
entrance into religion. 

Great indeed are the blessings which God showers 
down upon such pious parents. He does not allow 
Himself to be surpassed in generosity. He rewards 
them with the hundred-fold of spiritual and temporal 
blessings for the sacrifice which they thus make of 
one or more of their children. 

Unfortunately, my parents and those of many 
others do not happen to be so generous towards 
God. When one of their children resolves to em- 
brace the religious life, they become his worst ad- 
versaries. Instead of blessing the child and con- 
gratulating him on the choice of so holy a state of 
life, they turn in anger against him ; either from 
worldly interest or misplaced affection, they become 
the enemies of their child's spiritual welfare. The 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 119 

words of our Lord come true in their regard. * The 
enemies of a man are those of his own household." 
(Matt. 10, 36.) What is most strange is, that 
even such parents as generally pass for pious people 
scruple not in the least, under any pretexts what- 
ever, to employ all their powers to prevent their 
children from following the call of God. We read 
in the life of F. PaulSegneri, the younger, that his 
mother, although a lady of groat piety, left no means 
in her power untried to obstruct the vocation of her 
son, whom God called to religion. Also in the 
Life of the Eight Rev. Dr. Cavalieri, Bishop of 
Troycs, we are told that his father, though a very 
pious man, tried every means to prevent his son 
from entering into the Congregation of the Pious 
Laborers, (as he afterwards did,) and even went so 
far as to enter a process against him in the ecclesias- 
tical court. And how many other parents do we 
behold, who, from being devout persons of prayer, 
seem to be quite changed, and behave in such cases 
as if they were governed and possessed by the devil; 
for hell never seems to arm itself so strongly as 
when it is employed in hindering from the accomplish- 
ment of his vocation one whom God has called to 
the religious state. Under such circumstances it is 
in the opinion of the Fathers of the Church, more 
advisable to keep our vocation secret, for fear of 
losing it. 



120 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

Paul. — How do you know that Father and 
Mother will oppose jou ? 

Stanislas, — They have uttered their sentiments 
on this subject on several occasions. Not long ago, 
when our cousin Charles entered religion, they ex- 
pressed most decidedly their antipathy to the religious 
life ; they said they hoped that none of their children 
would ever conceive the idea of becoming a religious. 
I know that it is a sin for my parents to be so 
much opposed to the religious life. Their sin, how- 
ever, may perhaps find some excuse in the fact, that 
they are not sufficiently instructed on this subject. 
But as, in a few days, our cousin John is to enter 
the Society of Jesus, the conversation will, of course, 
turn again on the subject of the religious life. I will 
then not fail to explain to my parents their duties 
on this point; I will tell them what I read, some 
time ago, in a book treating on the duties of parents, 
namely: Let parents remember, that God is the 
Supreme Master of their children ; they are His 
gifl ; His claim to them is indisputable ; as He has 
a right to call them out of this life at any moment 
He pleases, so He can also call them to His service. 
No father or mother can dispute this right without 
being a most execrable blaspheiiier. Now to pre- 
vent a child from following the call of God, is to 
dispute this supreme right of the Almighty, which, 
of course, is a great sin. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 121 

God gives to each man his vocation, and chooses 
for him a state in which He designs that he should 
serve Him. This is according to the order of pre- 
destination described by St. Paul, the Apostle, 
when he writes : *'Whom He predestinated, them 
He also called ; and whom He called, them He also 
justified and glorified." (Rom. 8, 30.) He then 
who desires to insure his salvation, must carefully 
follow the divine inspiration in the choice of that 
state of life to which God calls him ; for it is in that 
state that God has prepared for him the aids which 
are requisite, in order to attain salvation ; it is in 
that state only that he has well-grounded hopes to 
be saved. Now it is the duty of parents to assist 
and induce their children to become saints, by letting 
them follow that road by which God calls them. To 
prevent their children from following the voice of 
God, would be a very grievous sin for parents. As 
it is an act of great injustice in a man unlawfully to 
prevent another from taking hold of a great good to 
which he has a just title, so tho act of injustice is 
still far greater ia parents, when they unreasonably 
prevent their children from acquiring one of the 
greatest of all goods — the religious life. — For beyond 
all doubt, to impugn the counsel of God, to destroy 
that which He builds, to scatter abroad that which 
He gathers, to cut ofi" the soldiers whom He musters 
under His standard, is nothing else than to join in 
5 



122 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

league with the devil, and wage war against God. 
This is an enormous offence, in which St. John 
Chrjsostom finds nine degrees of malice. St. Bernard 
exclaims : *'0, hard-hearted father ! cruel moth- 
er ! barbarous and impious parents ! Yea not 
parents, but murderers, whose sorrows are the safety 
of their children ; whose comfort, their destruction; 
who had rather that I should perish with them than 
reign with them. strange abuse I The house is 
on fire, the flame singes my back, and when I am 
flying, I am forbidden to go out ; when I am trying 
to escape, they persuade me to return. fury ! fie 
upon it. If you disregard your own death, why do 
you desire mine ? If, I say, you care not for your 
own salvation, what does it avail you to oppose and 
prevent mine ? What comfort is it to you to have 
me as associate of your damnation ?" 

The Council of Trent (18 Sess., 25 ch.) has pro- 
nounced anathema upon those who prevent young 
ladies from consecrating themselves to the service 
of God in the religious state. From this decree it 
is evident that the sin which parents or any one else 
commits against justice by unlawfully preventing 
one from becoming a religious, is so great that the 
punishment of excommunication may be inflicted 
upon them. 

Many parents try to quiet their conscience by 
specious pretexts, saying for instance, that their 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 123 

son is too young and too unexperienced, that his 
pious sentiments are not the marks of a true voca- 
tion, that they must put him on trial, etc. The 
answer to these and similar pretexts is simply this, 
that God has not appointed parents forjudges and 
interpreters of His holy will, concerning the stale 
of life which their children arc to embrace. — Unless 
parents are quite poor, let them not oppose their 
children in following the voice of God ; let them not 
resemble Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, who tried 
to prevent the people of God from offering sacrifice 
to the Almighty in the Desert. Let them remember 
how the Lord punished this wicked King by drown- 
ing him and his whole army in the Red Sea. 

Let them also remember what happened to Heli, 
the high priest, and to his sons, Ophni and Phinees. 
Holy Scripture tells us that **the sin of Heli's sons 
was exceedingly great before the Lord, because they 
withdrew the people from the sacrifice of the Lord." 
(I. Kings 2, 17.) In punishment for their sin, 
they were slain in battle, and their father Heli who 
did not duly correct them, * 'fell from his chair back- 
wards by the door, and broke his neck and died.'' 
(Chapt. IV, 18.) 

Holy Scripture also tells us, how Moses one day 
sent twelve spies to reconnoitre the land of promise. 
Ten of these men, at their return, spoke ill of the 
land, in order to prevent the pcopl(3 of God from 



124 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

trying to take possession of it. In punishment for 
their sin, God struck them suddenly dead. Now, 
if God acted so severely towards those who deterred 
His people from His sacrifice, or from occupying an 
earthly country which He had promised them, how 
much more severely will He not act towards all 
those who oppose His chosen vessels of election in 
ihe passage to the religious state^ — that truly earthly 
Paradise and the vestibule of heaven,-that there 
they may sacrifice their lives to the Lord and be 
His forever ! Indeed, God is not slow in punishing 
those parents who prevent their children from 
sacrificing to Him their lives in the religious state. 
He either calls such parents, or their children out 
of this life by a premature death, or He inflicts on 
them diff"erent kinds of the most frightful temporal 
calamities, permitting, in many instances, the chil- 
dren of such parents, to become their most cruel 
scourge even in this life. 

One day our Lord spoke to Mary Lataste, a holy 
sister of the Sacred Heart, in the following manner : 
*'I am not come to bring peace on the earth, but 
division. The son will rise up against the father 
on account of Me, and the father against the son, 
and the mother against the daughter. You under- 
stand Me, my daughter, you will find no contradiction 
between these words and other teaching, that I have 
given you, at other times. I am come on the earth 



ANSWEPwS TO OBJECTIONS, 125 

to direct towards heaven the minds of men who 
are crawling on the earth. My grace works in their 
hearts in the same sense. And very often, there 
are souls so filled and penetrated with My grace 
that nothing attaches them to earthly things, and 
they would abandon all, forget all, to be with Me 
alone. There are others, who leave the common 
ways of Christians to follow others more elevated, 
and which bring them nearer Me. Between these 
inclinations of grace and nature is found the divi- 
sion that I am come to bring in the world. I divide 
the movements of nature, and the movements of 
grace ; I divide those who follow the movements 
of grace, and those who, on the other hand, are 
iirected only by the movements of nature. 

** There is a division among them, as between the 
heavens and earth, and the world and Me. There 
is a division between the child that I call to the 
sac?er dotal state, and the father who destines for him 
the heritage of his ancestors. There is a division 
between the daughter, who has chosen Me for spouse, 
and the mother who wishes a marriage of flesh and 
blood, and not an alliance spiritual and divine be- 
tween Me and her child. There is a division ! ! If 
you knew the effects of that division ! If you could 
see the struggles between these senseless parents 
and the hearts of their children between these blind 
parents and the will of their children ; between these 
5* 



126 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

carnal parents and their children sustained by My 
grace ! Happy the children who do not allow them- 
selves to be governed by the voice of father or 
mother in such circumstances, but father listen to 
My voice ! Their resistance rouses the anger of 
their family; but because they obey My call, they 
will become for their family a source of benediction. 
Wo, on the contrary, three times wo, forever wo, 
to the parents who turn their children from the way 
to which I call them, to plunge them into the world, 
into sin, and into hell! My daughter, there is no 
abomination that is not committed sometimes in 
this regard ! You would tremble like a leaf in the 
tempest if I should reveal to you the multiplied 
infanticides that I know ! Oh ! fathers and mothers, 
unworthy of this name, who rcb their children of 
an eternal for a temporal heritage ; who rob their 
children of the joys of grace to give them the 
remorse of crime who rcb them of the peace of a , 
good conscience to give them the tortures of a soul, 
steeped in iniquity ; who rob them of the liberty of 
the children of God to load them with the heavy 
chains of the sons of Belial. Oh! why have you 
engendered them, depraved fathers ! Why have 
not your wombs remained sterill, mothers without 
heart? Fathers, why have you not sooner plunged 
a poniard in the heart of your children ? Mothers, 
why have you not stifled in the cradle the fruit of 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 12'! 

your womb? If, at least, you had exposed them 
in a public place, where the passers-by would have 
received them ! If you had thrown them into the 
waters of a river, where the bathers would have 
preserved them in their arms ! But no I you have 
plunged them in iniquity; you have given them up 
to the world, to their passions, to Satan ! Wo, wo 
to you! I have said, when I was on the earth, it 
would be better for such an one were a mill -stone 
on his neck and he should be thrown into the sea, 
than to scandalize one of My little ones. What 
shall I say of fathers and mothers who are not 
scandalized by their children, but who become their 
most cruel enemies, and bury them, so to speak, 
alive, night and day, in vice, instead of allowing 
them their right to practise virtue and give them- 
selves to Me ! Ah ! such as these perform not the 
office of fathers and mothers, but the office of Satan! 
How much I pity these children, and how much I 
feel for their interest ! Ah ! if they had been always 
faithful in casting their eyes on Me ! If they knew 
how to call Me to their succor! If they would 
hope in Me, nothing would repulse them, nothing 
stop them. They would forget their father and 
mother, to think only of their Father in heaven. 
They would not fear the father who could kill the 
body, but the Father who can throw them forever 
in tlie flames of hell. 



128 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

How I deplore the blindness of tliese parents ! It 
is God who demands their children, and they say 
to God Thou shalt not have our children. It is 
God who has bestowed them, and God must not 
have the right to demand them, to take them in 
His service, and pour on them special benedictions ! 
Is not God, the first father of these children ? Has 
He not rights superior to those of earthly parents ? 
Is it just for them to dispute them ? Is it just to- 
wards God, toward the children, not only to induce 
them not to give themselves to God, but, in reality, 
to prevent them from doing so. A.h ! if they knew 
how to comprehend their interests ! If an earthly 
king should demand their daughter in marriage, 
would they not esteem it a pleasure and honor to 
grant this request ? Would they not consider such 
an alliance as a great honor to their family? But 
what is an earthly king compared with the King 
of heaven ? This, however, is the idea of good 
with these parents ! They prefer a sovereign of the 
earth to the great Sovereign of heaven and earth ! 
What an outrage towards their God ! What in- 
justice towards Him ! It is an outrage and an in- 
justice towards their children ; they are enlightened 
by a divine light, they see the truth, and wish 
to make themselves happy by embracing it, 
but are prevented from doing so by those who 
have given them birth. blindness ! crime ! 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS, 105 

When monasteries were destroyed hj wars, and 
tbe monks dispersed, it used to be holjBishops who 
rebuilt '^hem and collected again the separated 
brethren. Thus St. Amblardus, Archbishop of 
Lyons, when he found that the Norman ravages 
were probably at an end, rebuilt in a sumptuous 
style the abbey of Aisray. 

Charles de Roucy, the venerable Bishop of Sois- 
sons, in 1582, counted it a great happiness in his 
last years, that he could favor the foundation of a 
new religious house in that city, in which Minims 
were to be received for the first time. Such were 
the works with which the holiest Bishops desired to 
close their administration. 

Paul, — ^You are an unexperienced young man, 
and as such you see but the outside of the religious 
life, without understanding its true interior difficul- 
ties and hard obligations. You should then not 
contemplate taking such an important step now, 
but wait until ycu have reached a more mature age, 
in order not to entangle yourself in difficulties out 
of which you could not so easily extricate yourself. 

Stanislas. — Can you foretell me with certainty 
that I shall reach such an age ? Would to God 
that I had been fortunate enough to live in a mo- 
nastery from my early childhood ! Both our youth 
and old age belong to God and not to the world, 
and where, I ask, can young men whom you call 



106 ANSWESRS TO OBJECTIONS. 

unexperienced (and who, I add, are exposed to so 
many dangers) live with greater security, accord- 
ing to the maxims of the Gospel, than in religious 
institutes ? A young man of the age of fifteen is 
commonly believed to be competent to judge rightly 
for himself. Were greater experience required, it 
would be rather as to how soon I should quit the 
world, than as to whether it be in itself expedient 
or not to embrace the evangelical counsels. For 
our Saviour Himself has exhorted us to His coun- 
sels, and has laid before us the excessive dangers 
and difficulties of a secular life. Besides, in religion 
I shall have a year or two of trial. I am not tak- 
ing a leap in the dark, as do the greater part of 
those who marry. By one *'yes'' they contract 
marriage, which is indissoluble, and then make 
their Novitiate, which lasts for their whole life. 
They expected to have found a great treasure and 
it was but a rough stone ; they hoped to live with 
a lamb and it was a lion or a poisonous snake. 
They soon shed bitter tears and exclaim : Had I 
known that^ I would never have married ; but in 
vain. Ask father and mother, whether I am right, 
and you will hear that I have said far too little on 
the subject. What I have seen of the world, and 
among married people, is enough to make me feel 
great compassion for the latter, and an utter dis- 
gust for the former. I need no more advice ; ma- 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 107 

ture reflection and good advice are needful in douht' 
ful affairs ; but not in that which regards the reli- 
gious life, which is certainly good, because it is 
approved bj the Holy Church and recommended by 
our Lord Himself in the Gospel. 

Paul. — You cannot deny that there are many 
hard things in religion. 

Stanislas — This is a gratuitous assumption and 
grave error, fraught with much evil, as it deters 
many from following the counsel of our Saviour. 
I grant that there are some hard things in religion. 
But what sort of life would it be, if nothing were 
to be suffered in it, if it had not now and then a 
dash of trouble. Were such the case, what com- 
mendation could it have ? How could patience, 
fortitude, charity and other virtues be exercised? 
What occasion of merit could it afford ? The reli- 
gious life, is therefore, the more commendable, be- 
cause it has wherein to practise virtue. But all the 
difficulty is so tempered and alloyed with comforts, 
that the labor is not felt ; the goodness of God hav- 
ing so seasoned the matter, that what would in itself 
be hard, is wonderfully sweet and pleasant. But 
what need is there to defend the religious life in 
this point ; as if the votaries of the world in whose 
behalf this objection is made, had nothing to suffer, 
no sorrow, no grief, whereas their sorrows and mis- 
cries and afflictions are a thousand times greater 



108 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

and more numerous. And being destitute of heav- 
enly comfort, their troubles are the more intolerable. 
The slight causes of trouble in religion are easily 
removed, and they are sometimes such as it is better 
to despise or laugh at, or perhaps to love and wil- 
lingly embrace ; the comforts, on the other hand, 
are so abundant in our Saviour, as to be able to 
sweeten a whole sea of distastes and troubles, if any 
such were found in religion. For when wisdom has 
once bound a man, and tamed him with certain la- 
borious exercises, it afterwards unbinds him, and 
gives him freedom to enjoy himself; and nurturing 
him first in temporal bonds, binds him afterwards 
with eternal emibraces, than which bonds nothing 
can be imagined more delightful or more solid. The 
first bonds I confess are a little hard ; of the second, 
I cannot say that they are hard, because they are 
sweet; nor soft, because they are strong. Whereas 
the bonds of this world have in them true harshness, 
false delight, uncertain pleasure, hard labor, timor- 
ous quiet, the thing itself full of misery, and a 
deceitful hope of happiness. I will beware of 
thrusting my neck, my hands and my feet into these 
fetters. 

Paul, — But a life in common is certainly too hard 
for your constitution; you will soon break down, 
and be a corpse. Weak and delicate as you are, how 
will you be able to carry the burden of so hard a life ? 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 133 

says St. Jerome, **with her hair loose about her 
ears, and tearing her clothes, show you her breasts 
at which she nursed you ; though your father lay 
himself down upon the threshold, pass them by, with 
dry eyes, in order to hasten to the standard of the 
Cross. A day will come hereafter when you shall 
enter the heavenly Jerusalem crowned like a man 
that has been valiant." 

Paul. — But is it not to have a breast of iron and 
a heart of stone to leave parents in this way ? 

Stanislas, — Indeed, Paul, it is not; to bo im- 
moveable in this, is to be truly pious. If my parents 
believe in Christ, let them be on my side, when I 
go to fight for Christ ; if they believe not in Him, 
*Hhen let the dead bury their dead.^^ 

To prefer the will of another to the will of God 
would be an infinite wrong to our Lord, and what 
punishment does not he deserve who prefers a crea- 
ture to his Creator, darkness to light, dirt and ashes 
to heaven? **He is not worthy of Me." Nothing 
can fall heavier upon man than to be rejected as un- 
worthy of the company of his God. 

It is for this reason that several saints, when 
called to leave the world, quitted the house of their 
parents without even making their design known to 
them ; thus did St. Francis Xavier, St. Philip Neri^ 
St. Lewis Beltrando, St. Thomas Aquinas. Let me 
tell you what this great Doctor of the Church had 
6 



134 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

to suffer from liis kindred for embracing the religious 
life. The frequent conversations which Thomas hftd 
with a Dominican Father, a very interior holy 
man, filled his heart with heavenly devotion and 
comfort, and inflamed him daily with a more and 
ardent love of God, which so burned in his breast 
that at his prayers his countenance seemed one day, 
as it were, to dart rays of light, and he conceived a 
vehement desire to consecrate himself wholly toGrod 
in that Order. His tutor perceived his inclinations 
and informed his father, the Count of Aquino, of 
the matter, who omitted neither threats nor promises 
to defeat such a design. But the saint, not listening 
to flesh and blood in the call of heaven, demanded 
with earnestness to be admitted into the Order, and 
accordingly received the habit in the Convent of 
Naples in 1243, being then seventeen years old. 
The Countess Theodora, his mother, being informed 
of it, set out for Naples to disengage him, if pos- 
sible, from that state of life. Her son, on the first 
news of her journey, begged his Superiors to remove 
him, as they did first, to the Convent of St. Sabina 
in Rome, and soon after to Paris, out of the reach 
of his relations. Two of his brothers, Landulph 
and Reynold, commanders in the emperor's army 
in Tuscany, by her direction, so well guarded all 
the roads that he fell into their hands, near Acqua- 
pendente. ^ They endeavored to pull off his habit, 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 135 

but he resisted them so violently that they conducted 
liim in it to the seat of his parents, called Rocea 
Secca. The mother, overjoyed at their success, 
made no doubt of overcoming her son's resolution. 
She endeavored to persuade him that to embrace 
such an Order, against his parents, ad vice, could not 
be the call of heaven ; adding all manner of reasons, 
fond caresses, entreaties and tears. Nature made 
her eloquent and pathetic. He appeared sensible 
of her affliction, but his constancy was not to be 
shaken. His answers were modest and respectful, 
but firm. He explained that his resolution was the 
call of God, and that it ought,consequently,to take 
place of all other views as to the disposition to be 
made of him even should these views aim at the 
service of God in any other way. At last, offended 
at his unexpected resistance, his mother expressed 
her displeasure in very angry words, and ordered 
him to be more closely confined and guarded, and 
that no one should see him but his two sisters. The 
reiterated solicitations of the young ladies were 
a long and violent assault. They omitted nothing 
that flesh and blood could inspire on such an occa- 
sion, and represented to him the danger of causing 
the death of his mother by grief. Ho, on the con- 
trary, spoke to them in so moving a manner, on 
the contempt of the world, and the love of virtue, 
that they both yielded to the force of his reasons for 



136 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

quitting the world, and, by his persuasion, devoted 
themselves to a sincere practice of piety. 

This solitude furnished him with the most happy 
opportunity for holy contemplation and assiduous 
prayer. 

Some time after, his sisters conveyed to him 
some books, viz : a Bible, Aristotle's logic, and the 
works of the Master of the Sentences. During this 
interval his two brothers, Landulph and Reynold, 
returning home from the army, found their mother 
in the greatest affliction, and the young novice 
triumphant in his resolution. They would needs 
undertake to overcome him, and began their assault 
by shutting him up in a tower of the castle. They 
tore in pieces his habit on his back, and after bitter 
reproaches and dreadful threats, they left him, hop- 
ing his confinement, and the mortifications which 
every one strove to give him, would shake his re- 
solution. This not succeeding, the devil suggested 
to these two young officers a new artifice for divert- 
ing him from pursuing his vocation. They secretly 
introdaced one of the most beautiful and most in- 
sinuating young strumpets of the country into his 
chamber, promising her a considerable reward in 
case she could draw him into sin. She employed 
all the arms of Satan to succeed in so detestable a 
design. The saint, alarmed and niirighted at the 
danger, profoundly humbled himself, and cried out 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 137 

to Grod most earnestly for his protection ; then 
snatching up a fire-brand struck her with it, and 
drove her out of his chamber. After this victory, 
not moved with pride, but blushing with confusion 
for having been so basely assaulted, he fell on his 
knees and thanked God for his merciful preser- 
vation, consecrated to Him anew his chastity and 
redoubled his prayers, and the earnest cry of his 
heart, with sighs and tears, to obtain the grace of 
being always faithful to his promises. Then falling 
into a slumber, as the most ancient historians of hia 
life relate, he was visited by two angels, who seemed 
to gird him round the waist with a cord so tight 
that it awaked him, and made him cry out. His 
guards ran in, but he kept his secret to himself. It 
was only a little before his death that he disclosed 
this incident to Father Reynold, his confessor,, 
adding that he had received this favor about thirty 
years before, from which time he had never been 
annoyed with temptations of the flesh ; yet he con- 
stantly used the utmost caution and watchfiilnesa 
against that enemy, and he would otherwise have 
deserved to forfeit that great grace. One heroic 
victory sometimes obtains of God a recompense and 
triumph of this kind. Our saint having suffered 
in silence this imprisonment and persecution upwards 
of a twelvemonth, some say two years, at length, 
on the remonstrances of Pope Innocent IV. , and the 
6* 



138 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

emperor Frederick, on account of so many acts of 
violence in his regard, both the countess and his 
brothers began to relent. The Dominicans of Naples 
being informed of this, and that his mother was dis- 
posed to connive at measures that might be taken to 
procure his escape, they hastened in disguise to 
Rocca Secja, where his sisters, knowing that the 
countess no longer opposed his escape, contrived his 
being let down out of his tower in a basket. He 
was received by his brethren in their arms, and 
parried with joy to Naples. The year following he 
there made his profession, looking on that day as 
the happiest of his whole life in which he made a 
sac-rifice of his liberty that he might belong to God 
alone. But his mother and brothers renewed their 
complaints to Pope Innocent IV., who sent for 
Thomas to Rome, and examined him on the subject 
of his vocation to the state of religion, in their 
presence; and having received entire satisfaction 
on this head, the Pope admired his virtue, and ap- 
proved of his choice of that state of life, which from 
that time he was suffered to pursue in peace. 

By following the example of such great Saints, 
we cannot err, especially if we consider that the 
Lord showed by miracles that He approved their 
glorious flight. St. Peter of Alcantara, in going 
from the house of his mother (to whom he had al- 
ways paid the strictest obedience since the death of 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 139 

his father), to the monastery in which he was about 
to become a religious, found his flight impeded by 
a large river, which he did not know how to cross. 
He recommended himself to God, and was, in an 
instant, miraculously transported to the opposite 
side. So, in a similar case, Stanislas Kostka, 
when fleeing from his home, without his father's 
permission, was closely followed by his brother in 
a carriage, with the object of capturing him ; but, 
just as he was on the point of doing so, the horses 
stopped suddenly, and could not be made to advance; 
but, after a short resistance wheeled round and 
quickly proceeded back to the town. We have also 
the example of the Blessed Oringa of Valdorno in 
Tuscany, who, being promised by her parents in 
marriage to a young man, fled from him to conse- 
crate herself to God ; but finding her way stopped 
by the river Arno^ she prayed for a few moments 
to God, whereupon the waters opened,and rising on 
each side like two crystal walls, afforded her a dry 
passage. 

It is, therefore, not necessary to seek the counsel 
or the consent of our parents to our compliance with 
our vocation. The tenth Council of Toledo, in the 
last chapter, says expressly, that children may be- 
come religious without the consent of their parents, 
provided they are past the age of puberty. These 
are the words of the Council: '^Parents will not 



140 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

deyote their children to religion unless they are 
under fourteen years of age. After this period it 
is for children to follow their own wishes in this 
respect, either with the consent of their parents, or 
according to their own devotion, independently of 
the direction of parents." The same rule is pre- 
scribed by the Council of Tiber (Can. 24), and it 
is taught by St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augus- 
tine, St. Bernard, St. Thomas, and others, as well 
as by St. John Chrysostom, who says in his Gen- 
eral Thesis, that when parents oppose what regards 
the spiritual welfare of their children, they must 
cease to be regarded on that point as parents. 

Paul admired the acnteness of his brother's mind, 
and felt perplexed, as it were, at the wise answers 
which he made to his objections. In his heart he 
was convinced that Stanislas, after all, was right; 
but he could not as yet give up the hope that ho 
would succeed at last in dissuading his brother from 
embracing the religious life ; so he thought of other 
objections. 

Paul, — You are right Stanislas, but remember, 
that the duties of religious are far more difficult 
than those of seculars, and that the weakness of the 
will is far greater than that of the body. This is a 
point worthy of consideration. How often do we 
not propose to ourselves good things, and afterwards 
find out that we cannot accomplish them. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 141 

Stanislafi. — rticli people, it is true, have to pay 
more taxes than the poor, yet, for all that, the former 
are better off than the latter, for they have more 
means to comply with their duties. So in religion ; 
even granted that religious had to perform harder 
and more numerous duties than seculars have, yet, 
for all that, they are better off. God knows our 
misery and our weakness, and yet He invites us to 
take upon ourselves His yoke and His burden. 
Those who follow His invitation are assisted by His 
grace, and thus His yoke becomes sweet and His 
burden light. Let me explain. Every man has a 
natural and inbred inclination and propensity to 
virtue, manifesting itself in the joy which he expe- 
riences within himself when he does well, and on the 
other hand, the sadness and defection of mind when 
he does amiss. If nature therefore be inclined to 
virtue, the practice of it must needs be more or less 
easy and pleasant ; though this inclination to virtue 
has been much weakened by original sin, and the 
multitude of our own offences ; yet these are but 
outward incumbrances, as clouds between us and 
the sun or as ashes heaped upon the embers ; in- 
wardly nature still inclines to virtue and a good life, 
and reason always inclines us that way whenever 
these outward impediments happen to be removed. 
This kind of inclination or facility of doing good 
has been implanted by God in our very nature ; 



142 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

but it is nothing in proportion to that which the 
force of His grace gives us. That which is in na- 
ture is but a beginning, a kind of seed, which of 
itself alone can do nothing. Grace gives the true 
form and soul, as it were, out of which virtuous 
actions proceed; and makes a man, a new man, 
celestial and divine, and gives a new heart, and *'re- 
neweth an upright spirit loithln us,^^ 

Besides that grace which God oflfers to all to do 
good, the peculiar grace of a religious vocation puts 
so much life and strength into those who have it, 
that they perform with great facility, and in a man- 
ner without any labor at all, all those things which 
others cannot do, aud which they themselves could 
not do before. A beast which has no reason can- 
not perform anything that belongs to and proceeds 
from reason, such as to draw a conclusion, to judge 
of a thing, to give advice, to foresee that which is 
to come; but a man, being endowed with reason, 
does these things as easily and promptly as he uses 
his hands or feet. So if a man has not the vocation 
and spirit of God, which includes poverty and obe- 
dience and other virtues, he finds it very hard to be 
content to have nothing, and to do the will of an- 
other ; but if he has this vocation, he takes great 
comfort and delight in the performance of all his 
duties. 

Moreover, the practice breeds a habit of doing 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS, 143 

Well, and when this practice is once settled in the 
mind, all virtuous actions are easy and pleasant. 
The affection which excludes earthly love is strengh- 
ened by the custom of well-doing ; because a man's 
conscience must necessarily take delight in good 
works and willingly do that which it is glad it has 
done. Therefore, religion being nothing else but a 
continual practice in all kinds of virtue, the exercise 
of it must needs grow easier every day, and in time 
bring forth abundant fruit. When a man has once 
acquired a perfect habit of practising virtue^ and is 
advanced in love for it, so as to consider it the most 
precious thing in the world, and to look upon vice, 
or the poison of sin, as the greatest torment, he 
takes more pleasure in his sober and continent life 
than others do in their incontinence and riot ; the 
flower of chastity must needs be sweeter to him 
than the filth of sensual pleasure to the sensual ; 
and finally, when he is humbled and meets with an 
occasion to suffer for Jesus Christ, he rejoices more 
in his humiliation and sufferings than worldly^am- 
bitious people do in the applause and preferments 
after which they run so eagerly. 

I therefore say, that the duties of the religious 
life, so far from being more irksome and more diffi- 
cult than those of secular people, are rather wonder- 
fully sweet and pleasant. St. Reginaldus, one of 
the first companions of St. Dominic, was a wealthy 



144 ANSWEKS TO OBJECTIONS. 

man in the world and lived daintily at his ease. 
After he had become a religious, those who knew 
him before often asked him whether his present 
life was not rather hard for him ; and he always 
replied with a cheerful heart and countenance : **I 
wish you to know that all these things are so sweet 
and pleasant to me, that I have often thought that 
i merit nothing in my present life, because I find 
so much comfort and joy in it.'' All good religious, 
if asked, would make the same answer. 

Paul. — Dear Stanislas, you cannot deney that 
there have been many who^ full of zeal for their 
perfection, overcame the greatest obstacles in order 
to become religious, and who,after they had received 
the religious habit, would have suffered themselves 
to bo cut to pieces rather than give up one inch of 
their habit. But how long did their fervor last? 
Alss! they soon grew lukewarm, and to their great 
conias^'uD, left the Order, and endangered their sal- 
vation moro than before ; nay, among those who 
already havo t?kcn the vows many can be found 
who speak in dispar:^gement of the religious life. 

Stanislas, — There are a great many seculars wh(J 
speak very contemptirously of the world, and wouW 
be too glad ii' they could l?ave it. But why do you 
not leave it as there is notk?Dg to prevent you from 
d; ing so ? The fact that many have become unfaith' 
ful in the 6er\ice of God, and thcrcbj^ 'Qi?4a'ig^r^<? 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 145 

their salvation more than before, must not deter us 
from doing what is good and perfect. Otherwise 
it would be wrong for a man to speak to a Turk, or 
a Jew, or a heathen, of the true Christian religion, 
for fear that, after his conversion, he might lead a 
bad life, and bring upon himself greater punish- 
ments for all eternity. How many soldiers have not 
lost their lives on the battle-field? How many 
merchants have not become bankrupt ? How many 
have not perished by shipwreck, and by railroad 
accidents? and yet for all that men are not deterred 
from travelling by sea and by land ; from becoming 
soldiers or men of business. Shall we give up 
working out our salvation and striving to attain one 
day to the kingdom of heaven because one- third 
of the angels were driven out of it and became 
devils? Assuredly, to yield to the suggestions of 
the apostate angels would be very wrong ; but 
would it not be just as wrong to allow ourselves to 
be prevented from embracing a holy course of life 
by the examples of apostate religious? Some of 
them, it is true, speak contemptuously of the 
religious state; they do so to justify their conduct 
in the eyes of men, and if possible, to quiet their 
conscience, not foreseeing that by so doing, they 
render their case worse before God and men. Their 
unfaithfulness does not prove that the religious state 
is not a holy state, a hidden treasure ; it does not 
5 



14G ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

prove that the promises of Christ are not true. Oh 
no ! it proves only that the grace of a religious voca- 
tion is not granted in such a manner that it cannot 
be forfeited ; it proves that after we have put the 
hand to the plough^ we must not look back ; it 
proves that the kingdom of heaven must be carried 
by violence even in religion. The very fact that 
those who have left the Orders to which they be- 
longed feel unhappy, shows that they are guilty; 
for a man with a good conscience feels always happy. 
"We must, then, never look at the examples of the 
bad. Their conduct must never inspire us with im- 
moderate fear. The greater part of the angels were 
faithful and stayed in heaven ; so also the greater 
part of religious persevere in their holy vocation 
and die as Saints. Alas ! how necessary is it not 
for us to put all our confidence in God in order to 
persevere in our good resolutions ! Let us rest as- 
jured that He who inspires good resolutions, and 
♦specially that of embracing the religious life, will 
tlso give strength to persevere in it. But we must 
constantly ask for it. * 'Whatsoever you ask the 
Father in My name, you shall receive.'' 

Paul. — I know, from reliable persons that, even 
inReligious Orders, there are some who do not live 
well; and you know the proverb: *'One scabby 
sheep infects a whole flock." Why, then, should 
you go amongst them and be infected and lose your 
innocence? 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 147 

Stanislas. — What a strange objection this ! Is it 
right to charge the innocent with the fault of the 
guilty, or what is worse, to impute it to the state 
itself, which is the work of God? No wonder, if 
men speak ill of the servants of the Lord and labor 
to stain their reputation, when they cannot deprave 
their life ! Some people have strange notions of 
religious men, as if, with their state, they had at 
once changed their nature, and were no longer men 
of the common clay. If they see them attend to the 
necessities of their body, they load them with re- 
proaches and slanders, and turning their calumnies 
from one upon all, they call them gluttons, forget- 
ful of the manner in which they themselves feast 
daily, and the shameful excesses in food and drink in 
which they not unfrequently indulge. But even 
granted that some religious have sometimes their 
faults, is the religious state itself on that account, 
to be censured ? Is all money bad because there is 
some counterfeit? Should there be some who are 
not good, let them alone. Let us not cast our eyes 
upon Judas denying his Lord^ but upon Paul con- 
fessing Him. As the light of the stars disappears 
in that of the sun, so the blemishes of ^ome religious 
disappear in the light of the bright examples of the 
multitude of their brethren who are models of every 
virtue. Nowhere are there more mangy sheep than 
in the world. In religion they are the rare cxeep- 



148 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

tions. Nor will they be suffered to remain long 
among the virtuous. They will soon amend, or, if 
they do not, they will leave, of their own accord, 
or be expelled, and the good and fervent alone re- 
main. If some of the angels in heaven, if Adam 
and Eve in Paradise, could rebel against God, shall 
a sensible man be astonished to learn that now and 
then a religious forgets himself. If there is danger 
everywhere^ is it reasonable to choose to stay where 
the danger is the greatest ? 

Paul, — But the sins of religious people are more 
grievous than the sins of those who live in the world, 
and consequently deserve greater punishments. 
Why, then, expose yourself to the danger of making 
yourself more guilty and damnable ? 

Stanislas. — If what you say were true, the case 
of religious would be rather hard. But the contrary 
is true. If a religious commit a fault, it is not 
from habit and custom, but from a sudden motion. 
Now, such a fault is comparatively of little moment, 
because it does not proceed from a depraved will. 
But the ftxults of secular people springing, as they 
generally do, from sinful habits are evidence of a 
will more confirmed in evil,and consequently deserve 
a greater punishment. Moreover, as a good father 
scarcely takes notice of the faults of a child that 
tries to be good, so God easily forgives the faults 
of religious who try to please Him by all they do. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 149 

Their faults are swallowed up in the good they do, 
and their good deeds are a constant prayer for mercy. 
'*And therefore," said the prophet to King Josa- 
phat, **thou didst deserve indeed the wrath of God, 
but good works have been found in thee.^' 

Again, a religious person has more knowledge of 
God and often remembers Him, so that He cannot 
so carelessly cast himself away and plunge so deep 
into sin as people in the world generally do, because 
they know God but little and live in forgetfulness 
of His Divine Majesty. Hence it is said in Holy 
Writ: **A just man, when he falleth, shall not 
be bruised." 

Besides, religious persons know how to profit by 
their faults, as St. Peter did by his. If now and 
then they happen to present withered roses — im- 
perfect actions — to our Lord, they learn how to 
press out of them the odoriferous water of compunc- 
tion or the wholesome oil of humility. 

Paul. — But is it not said that *'to whom much 
is given of him much shall be required " 

Stanislas. — He Who said this said also that **he 
who hath, to him shall be given, and he shall 
abound." Jesus Christ, no doubt, will demand 
much of allChristians ; yet it is peculiar to Almighty 
God to enrich still more those upon whom He has 
already heaped so many spiritual and temporal 
blessings, and we may say^in truth, that it concerns 
5* 



150 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

Him nmch to have an eye to religious, and to 
strengthen and establish them in what He gave 
them in the beginning of their vocation, lest they 
lose it. He never bestows His gifts, especially the 
grace of a religious vocation for our greater ruin, 
but for our greater profit and happiness. Those 
who, from such an ungrounded fear, or any other 
reason, do not like to receive the grace of a religious 
vocation, or reject it altogether when offered by 
Almighty God, resemble the unprofitable servant 
in the Gospel, and will with him,*'tied hand and 
foot, he cast into utter darJcness,^* As it is easy fo.^ 
a rich man to profit by his wealth and acquire a 
greater abundance of it, so it is also very easy for 
religious to profit by the great gifts of God and in- 
crease their spiritual wealth. It is also to be ob- 
served here that religious in their state are not 
bound to be perfect, but they are only bound to 
aspire to perfection. Those who think otherwise 
are entirely mistaken. Religious comply with this 
duty if they keep themselves in the way towards 
perfection. It is not required of a scholar that he 
be learned all at once ; he is required only to try 
to learn his lesson as well as he is able. The same 
may be said of religious persons ; if they do not 
wildly cast aside the thought of virtue, but if they^ 
with proper care and diligence, labor to acquire it, 
they cannot be said to fail in their duty ; and those 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 151 

very steps towards virtue, though short, bring them 
nearer and nearer to God, Who, far from overload- 
ing them, lays rather less upon them than they are 
able to do. "We may therefore say with joy what 
we find in Holy Writ: **Our Lord will be merciful 
to all who, with their whole heart, seek the Lord the 
God of their fathers, and will not impute it to them 
that they are less sanctified.'' 

Paul. — Stanislas, you seem to be filled with a 
great desire of perfection. You ought,then,to have 
a good opportunity to acquire a large treasure of 
merits. This opportunity is given you in the 
practice of mortification and in the hard labors for 
the salvation of your neighbor. But in religion you 
cannot have this opportunity as often as you wish, 
because your superiors will often interfere. 

Stanislas, — The true and only source of merit is 
the will of God. Only those actions, which are 
done according to His will, are blessed and reward- 
ed. Now, where is the will of God better manifested 
and more perfectly done than in religion ? To every 
action of a religious a double merit is attached, that 
of the good action itself and that of obedience. 

Besides, God has established every religious 
Society for a particular end. To obtain this end, 
God gives it a particular grace. Every religious, 
when laboring for the welfare of his neighbor, has 
from God a twofold grace, that which is common to 



152 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

all good men when employed in such good works, 
and also that grace which God gives to the Society 
to reach its end. For these reasons it is that the 
labors of religious are so much blessed everywhere. 
There have been persons who attributed the admir- 
able results of the Apostolic labors in which they 
were employed to their own talents and efforts ; 
they thought they could do more good if they 
enjoyed fall liberty and were not hindered by 
obedience due to superiors. Deceived by a most 
fatal error, and their pride of heart, they regarded 
the fountain of Divine benediction as an impedi- 
ment, and ascribed to their own natural and acquired 
talents the efficiency which was in truth imparted 
to them as living members of a Religious Society.; 
But no sooner had these religious left their Order, j 
than they found that they were destitute of this 
efficiency, and that the success of their labors was 
reduced to the common level, and sometimes scarcely 
attained to mediocrity. 

**A religious, therefore, "saysSt.Alphonsus, "will 
save, by his prayers^ labors and mortifications, more 
souls in one year, than in his whole life out of 
religion; and as to his own personal merit, he will 
gain more in one year by practising obedience than 
in ten years by living in the world according to his 
own will." 

Paul. — But it seems to me, Stanislas, that ' by' 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 153 

embracing the religious life you are acting un- 
charitably towards your own kindred, neighbors 
and countrymen; you withdraw from them your 
good example, and your zeal to advance them in a 
virtuous life, and you bestow all that upon strangers. 
This cannot be according to the wi>l of God ; it 
cannot but displease Him, and we are bound in duty 
to be more good to our own kindred than to strangers. 
Stanislas. — True charity is well ordered ; if it is 
not, it is not charity, but some other affection which 
puts on the mask of charity. * 'Charity commences 
at home,'' that is, every one must first be careful of 
himself and prefer his own spiritual benefit and pro- 
fit, to that of any neighbor. Now, the greatest 
profit and advantage to ourselves is the acquisition 
of the possession of God. He is the greatest good 
of our soul. The acquisition of this good is no- 
where sooner and more solidly made and preserved 
than in religion. Hence^ the course of a religious 
life is, beyond doubt, the most absolute course of 
our own perfection and far more apt to furnish our 
own souls with virtue, than can any secular state 
whatever. From this necessarily follows, thiit, 
though some particular state in the world might be 
more beneficial to our neighbor, yet the good of our 
own souls is to be preferred. Our Saviour tells us 
so in these express words : ' 'What doth it profit a 
man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss 



154 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

of his own soul." Hence, in the matter of salvation 
and sanctification no degree of compassionate charity 
is to be preferred to that degree which the Wise 
man sets down, when he says: *^Have mercy on 
thy own soul, pleasing God." But a religious life, 
as I have already said, is far better calculated to do 
good to others than a life in the world ; for every 
one knows that the conversion of souls, their pro- 
gress and advancement in virtue depends entirely 
on the grace of God. Men are but instruments 
which God uses. Hence a man will do good to his 
neighbor in proportion as he is united with God, 
and moved by Him; so far he will go, and no 
further. 

Now there can be no question as to who is more 
united with God, a man in the world, or a man in 
religion. The religious man being given over ab- 
solutely, and bound inseparably to God, by his 
vows, placed as a staflf in His hands, to be ruled 
and wielded by Him as He pleases, what wonder if 
such an instrument, managed by the hand of so great 
and so skill fnl a Master, and so fit and pliable to 
His hand, should work such rare and admirable 
effects as are visible in the church of God. And as 
for expecting to do more good by remaining to in- 
struct our kindred, neighbors, or countrymen, than 
by going into religion, Jesus Christ Himself tells 
us : **A prophet is not without power except in his 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 155 

own country." But not only our Lord's words, but 
even His own example prove the same; for even 
amongst the Samaritans, though a debauched kind 
of people, all admired His wisdom ; yet in His own 
country He was held in contempt and derision, so 
much so that it is said in the Gosptl : *'He could 
not there do any virtue." What, then, can we, weak 
and infirm creatures as we are, expect to do, see- 
ing that the infinite sanctity and majesty of our 
Lord Himself could effect no good upon flesh 
and blood. Whoever wishes to save a man from 
being drowned, must first put himself in safety; 
otherwise he endangers himself in "he attempt. In 
like manner, he who will go about to help his neigh- 
bor out of the danger which is in the world must 
wade out of the world, and stand upon firm ground 
above all worldly things. 

Paul, — Stanislas, you know but too well what 
value Jesus Christ sets upon alms-deeds. On the 
day of the last judgment, He will not ask His crea- 
tures whether they have entered into religion, nor 
praise them for having done so, but to those who 
have been very charitable towards the poor He will 
say: *'I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I 
was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink ; I was naked, 
and you clothed Me." Now, if you enter into re- 
ligion, you have to renounce all the goods of this 
world ; you can no longer dispose of them as you 



156 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

please, and thus rob yourself of the best opportunity 
of doing good. You act, then, very unwisely by 
leaving us. 

Stanislas. — There seems to be some plausible 
reason in what you have just said ; I must avow 
that this very consideration made me one day waver 
in my resolution. But. thanks to Divine Providence, 
a little book which at the time I happened to read 
dispersed all my doubts on the subject. Let me tell 
you what I remember still. 

1. Vigilantius maintained, that those who give 
their possessions little by little to the poor, do better 
than those who sell them and give all away at once. 
This proposition is heretical and condemned by the 
church. For Jesus Christ Himself has declared : 
*'If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all you have 
and give to the poor and follow Me." It is far 
better to give the tree together with the fruits at 
once, than the fruits only little by little. Were 
God to give you all the goods of this world, your 
heart would not feel so contented and so happy, as 
it would were He to bestow Himself whole and en- 
tire upon your soul. In the same manner he who 
gives alms, gives to Christ his earthly goods ; but 
he who becomes a religious, consecrates to God his 
whole person, and gives at once the tree with the 
fruits, and this offering is far more pleasing to His 
Divine Majesty. Hence it is that on the day of 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 15T 

judgment, Jesus Christ will say to the alms-givers: 
**Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the king- 
dom, etc., for I was hungry and ye gave Me to eat," 
etc. But those who for Christ's sake have re- 
nounced all things, will be higher than the alms- 
givers, for they will be their judges, according to 
the promise of our Lord: **Amen, I say to you, 
that you who have forsaken all things and followed 
Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall 
sit in His Majesty, you shall also sit upon twelve 
seats judging the twelve Tribes of Israel." 

2. The members of Religious Orders give alms 
through the hands of their Superiors. 

3. No acts of charity are so pleasing in the sight 
of God as laboring for the salvation of souls. **We 
cannot offer any sacrifice to God," says St. Gregory, 
**which is equal to that of the zenl for the salvation 
of souls." **This zeal and labor," says St. John 
Chrysostom, **is of so great a merit before God, that 
to give up all our goods to the poor, or to spend our 
whole life in the exercise of all sorts of austerities, 
cannot equal the merit of this labor. This merit of 
laboring in the vineyard of the Lord is something 
far greater, than the gift of working miracles. To 
be employed in this blessed labor is even more 
pleasing to the Divine Majesty than to suffer mar- 
tyrdom." Religious, then, who devote their whole 
life to this most glorious labor in the vineyard of 

6 



158 ANSWERS TO OnJECTIONS. 

the Lord, have undoubtedly chosen the best kind 
of meritorious works. 

4. If in the opinion of the Fathers of the Church 
there can be no greater merit than that of working 
for the salvation of souls, we must also say, that 
there can be no work of corporal mercy more meri- 
torious, than that of giving charitable aid to Reli- 
gious Societies, whose members are consecrated to 
the service of God and their neighbor. iSToWjlet 
me suppose, I were to labor hard from morning to 
night and give all the income of the industry of my 
whole life in support of such a Society, you would 
certainly say that I could not go farther in my 
charity. But I can and I will go one step farther ; 
I can and I will be still more generous and liberal 
by entering into such a Society,and being industrious 
there according to obedience. Thus all fiiy labors 
and exertions will prove as so many alms to the 
Order, and have at the same time the merit and re- 
ward of obedience. 

5. Were I to stay in the world, I should have to 
spend a large portion of the income of my labors 
for the necessaries of life. In religion, I can live 
much cheaper, and thus more of the income of my 
industry goes to the noblest of purposes. 

6. In the world different societies are organized 
to carry out great plans for making much money, 
which otherwise could not be carried out for want 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 159 

of means ; and the stockholders of such societies 
soon become very rich. In like manner, Religious 
Societies are established by Almighty God to carry 
out the plans of His wisdom for the salvation of 
mankind. Every religious is a -stockholder in the 
Society, and shares in all the spiritual gains which 
the Society makes in the vineyard of the Lord. Let 
me also remark, that if a society organized for 
worldly purposes, should fail, its stockholders 
would suffer great loss. Such a risk is not to be 
apprehended in religion. The establishment of a 
Religious Society being the work of God, can never 
fail. The Lord will always give it the necessary 
means to carry out His plans. My gains are in 
the most reliable insurance company — Jesus Christ 
is its President, and has given me a good Policy 
recorded in the Gospel in these words : *'He who 
shall leave his home, brothers, or sisters, or father, 
or mother, or wife, or children, or estate, for My 
sake, shall receive a hundred-fold in this life, and 
eternal life hereafter in the world to come." (Matt. 
xix., 29.) * 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
My word shall not pass away." (Matt, xxiv., 53.) 

May the Lord be blessed for having enlightened 
me so much on this subject. 

Paul. — In your estimation, the religious life is 
all, and the life led in the world is nothing ; in the 
latter, men have to suffer far more tribulations 



160 ANSWBR3 TO OBJECTIONS. 

than religious. Married people especially may, in 
truth, be called martyrs, for I assure you, the greater 
part of them suffer as much, and perhaps more, than 
many a martyr of the Church did. I pass in silence 
the merit which parents acquire by the good edu- 
cation of their children; I will not mention the 
heroic fortitude required to preserve oneself inno- 
cent amidst the dangers of the world, and say in 
truth : ^*In the midst of the fire I was not burnt/' 
(Eccl.Ii., 6.) 

Stanislas. — What great blindness ! Were that 
so it would be necessary for theChurch to constitute 
a new class of martyrs, which, of course, she will 
not do ; not only married people, but also soldiers 
who sacrifice their lives in war, would be martyrs. 
People who marry, says St. Paul, '*shatl have tribu- 
lation of the flesh." (I. Cor. vii., 28. ,) The greater 
part of them suffer so much because they wish to 
enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, and you think that 
they should be ranked among the martyrs. The 
case is quite different with' religious. The holy 
Church says of St. Paula,who,as a widow, embraced 
the religious life, that she was at last crowned with 
the crown of a long martyrdom. And the same 
may be said of every fervent religious who dies in 
his Order. 

Paid. — And what do you say of the merit which 
parents acquire in the good education of their chil- 
dren ? Am I not right in this point ? 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 161 

Stanislas. — By no means, my dear brother ; for 
the merit of a good education is far greater in reli- 
gious than in parents ; the children of the latter 
become the spiritual sons and daughters of religious 
who by their prayer, good example, advice and ex- 
hortations in the confessional and out of it, lead 
both parents and their children to life everlasting ; 
thus religious have a greater number of spiritual 
children than parents have according to the flesh. 
For this reason St. Bernard exclaims : '*The reli- 
gious state fills heaven with angels." 

Paul, — But is it not something great to know 
how to keep oneself guiltless amidst the dangers of 
the world ? 

Stanislas. — I know there are many people in the 
world who are good ; nay, some of them may even 
be better than many a religious ; but they are few 
in comparison, because few give their heart and 
soul to the service of God, and they may therefore 
be looked upon as the exception, not the rule ; 
whereas, those who do so in religion, are the rule, 
the others the exception. This makes a great differ- 
ence. In the point in question we must be guided 
by what commonly happens. I know the three 
children were not hurt in the fire, nor was Peter in 
the sea, and many others have on similar occasions 
escaped unhurt. But do you think that there is 
any one mad enough to cast himself wilfully into 
6* 



162 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

the sea, or into the fire^ because these men escaped 
by the particular protection of Grod ? So of the 
world; it is so deceitful, and so infested with sin, 
that it is hard for one to avoid committing it, and 
there are but few who escape it. Now, who can 
guarantee that I shall be one of the few ? What 
folly, then, to transact a business of so much impor- 
tance as our eternal salvation in a place where 
spiritual bankruptcy occurs so frequently, or to 
imagine that the poison of the world will have no 
effect upon me, though all admit that it has upon 
others. The holy King David says: *'With the 
elect, thou wilt bo elect, and with the perverse, 
thou wilt be perverted." (II. Kings, xxii., 27.) 

Paid. — Gra^nted that the works of piety in the 
world are not of so great a merit as those performed 
under religious obedience ; this defect can easily be 
supplied by charity; ''perfection," as St. Paul 
says, ^'consists in charity," so that the greater a 
man's charity, the greater is also his perfection, no 
matter whether he lives in the world or in religion. 
Witness Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who, though 
living in the st^itc of matrimony and abounding in 
worldly goods, were nevertheless holy in an eminent 
degree. Witness again Casimir, St. Henry the 
Emperor, St. Oharles Borromeo, St. Francis do 
Sales and many others who are venerated on our 
altars, and who lived in the world and reached a 



ANSWEPwS TO OBJECTIONS. 163 

most eminent degree of sanctity. Let a man, there- 
fore, forsake the "world in affection and love God 
very much, and he will die a great Saint. 

Stanislas. — It is true, perfection consists in clinr-. 
ity, and the religious state is not perfection, bub 
a way and means to it ; yet a means so efficacious as 
most inevitably and easily leads to it; while on the 
other hand, those who do not embrace it, either 
never come to perfection, or not without long and 
most difficult efforts, as I have already explained. 

As to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and others 
of the Old Law, I hope, you do not wish me to put, 
like them, calves upon the altar of the Lord, and 
kill rams and sacrifice goats. We are living under 
a New Law, under the Law of Perfection, given by 
Jesus Christ. God requires more from us than 
from the Patriarchs of the Old Law. As men ex- 
pect more at their children?, hands when they are 
grown up than when they are children, and find 
fault with those things in elder years which it was 
a pleasure for them to see in their tender age : so 
God in those first times condescended in many things, 
which now,in the light of the Gospel, we see are im- 
perfect, especially seeing that greater rewards are 
promised us,and that the grace of the Holy Ghost 
has been more abundantly poured upon us, and 
greater gifts bestowed by the coming of Christ, 
who, of weak and feeble creatures as we are, makes 



164 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

US perfect. The just of the Old Law walked in 
the depth of the divided sea, as it were, and in the 
mire of many waters, possessing earthly things, and 
that lawfully ; but we have another more wonder- 
ful manner of walking upon the waters themselves, 
by forsaking all things : which slate and prerogc- 
tive was due to the state of the Gospel, and to St. 
Peter, as the leader and captain of it. We must, 
therefore, follow Jesus Christ, His example, and 
His doctrine. In conclusion , I must still remark 
that it would be great boldness and presumption to 
put ourselves on the same level with the Saints. If 
some of them have lived virtuously in the midst of 
their wealth and honor in either state of life, mar- 
ried or single, what reason have we to believe that 
we shall have the same degree of grace to live in 
the same humble spirit in which they lived ? No 
man is so foolish as to attack a whole army of men 
by himself, without weapon, because he has heard 
that Samson slew so many of his enemies with no 
other weapon than the jaw-bone of an ass. 

Paul. — You have brought forward many strong 
arguments in favor of the religious life ; you have 
extolled its beauty and advantages in the plainest 
and most forcible manner. But I think, that there 
are but few religious who enjoy all those advantages. 
Pray, tell me, where in religion are those men 
who, with a blessed Ephraim, can exclaim :**OLord, 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 165 

leave me a little, because the weakness of this ves- 
sel is not able to contain Thj sweetness," or with 
St. Francis Xavier ; *'It is enough, Lord, it is 
enough." 

Stanislas. — ^Whatever I have said of the beauty, 
excellence, benefit, or pleasure of the religious life, 
is to be understood of the state itself, not of particular 
men. In the discussion of the constitution of a 
man's body, we consider it as it is by nature, entire 
and perfect, and not as it may be found in some 
particular cases, deprived of a hand, or an eye, or 
a foot, or any other part. So, in religion, we show 
what profit and happiness the state is apt and wont 
naturally to produce and to afford. If there is any 
particular religious in whom it does not produce this 
usual effect the fault is in the individual, not in 
the state. However, the number of such slothful 
and idle people who suffer themselves to want in the 
midst of plenty, is very small if compared to those 
who take real comfort in religion, because it is one 
of the happinesses and benefits of the religious life to 
rouse up the spirits of such as are indolent and care- 
less, and to infuse life into the dull and phlegmatic. 
As to those extraordinary favors which certain 
saints have received, I know that they do not hap- 
pen to all. But it is no dishonor to religion, if all 
teligious are not endowed with such extraordinary 
gifts. A piece of land may yield a hundred-fold 



166 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

to one farmer, whilst to another it yields far less. 
The quality of the soil is, of course, not to be 
blamed for this, but rather the negligence, or in- 
capacity of him who tills it. So of the religious 
state ; of itself it is a very rich soil, whose fertility 
appears chiefly in the production of great Saints ; if 
it does not yield the hundred-foldto all, the fault is, 
more or less, in the individual, This consideration 
ought to encourage all religious to be more diligent 
and fervent in the performance of their duties. But 
there are other ordinary comforts of great value 
which all religious may easily obtain, provided they 
follow the common and ordinary manner of a re- 
ligious life — comforts which are grounded in purity 
of heart and the practice of mortification. 

As for myself, I know of no more solid comforb 
nor of any more ravishing delight than that of be- 
ing certain of always doing the will of God. Jesus 
Christ said: **My food is to do the will of Him 
that sent Me." (Johniv.,34.) A religious always 
has the same food and may say in truth with St. 
Paul : **I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
(Gral.li.,20.) what sweet comfort, what rapture 
in this thought! Again, is it not a constant com- 
fort for a religious to have the firm, certain hope of 
everlasting happiness? — a comfort not transitory 
like the pleasures of the senses, but a life-long comfort, 
increasing in intensity in proportion to its duration. 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 167 

The sun, as you know, is wont to communicate 
its light to every thing, according to the disposition 
of the thing itself; supposing, for instance, the air 
is pure, it is full of light; if cloudy and misty, it 
is not destitute of light, but receives as much as it 
is capable of receiving. 

So does God deal with His servants. To gene- 
rous and noble souls in whom He finds no obstacle. 
He communicates Himself profusely ; others not so 
perfect He does not forsake, but gives them light 
and grace in proportion to the capacity of each. 

The gifts and comforts of God are like the oil 
which was multiplied by the Prophet Elias ; they 
run so long as there are empty vessels to receive 
them. Let us never fear or doubt, lest God should 
sell His spiritual delights at too dear a rate. He 
freely and profusely pours forth His benefits for the 
sustenance of our natural life ; He showers down 
these benefits even upon those who blaspheme His 
holy Name and abuse His gifts, or at least are for 
the most part ungrateful ; assuredly, He is not less 
liberal and profuse in the goods which serve to sus- 
tain our spiritual life ; for the sake of these goods 
He voluntarily descended from heaven and died 
willingly upon the cross. 

What kind of people does He invite to the sump- 
tuous banquet so royally and magnificently set forth 
in the Gospel ? **Go forth quickly," He says, '*in- 



168 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

to the streets and lanes of the city ; and bring hither 
the poor, the blind and the lame." Who are those 
feeble, blind and poor people? Are they not the 
imperfect, or those who are but novices in the spir- 
itual life ? And these are not only not excluded 
from the sweetness of this banquet, but are unex- 
pectedly invited, entreated, and as the Gospel says, 
compelled to go in. No one, therefore, who is called 
to the religious life, should fear that he will be kept 
fasting from those spiritual fruits of the religious 
state, or forced to labor too long in digging for this 
current of living water. 

Christ has promised the hundred-fold not only to 
those who live like St. Arsenius, or St. Hilarion, 
but absolutely to all who forsake all. Therefore let 
no one say : I am of a tender complexion ; I am a 
sinner ; I cannot go through a course of hard labor 
and penances to deserve great graces. Is not grace 
always grace, that is, a gratuitous gift? Have not 
all sinned ? Do you think there is exception of 
persons with God? And that, therefore. He does 
not so plentifully comfort all that have left all ? Be 
not of such little faith ; believe the God of Truth 
when He says : * 'And every one that shall leave 
father, or mother, or house, or land for My name's 
sake, shall receive a hundred- fold." They, there- 
fore, are miserable that say : **Christ, of course, ex- 
cepts no man, except us.^^ I know these fears are 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 169 

generally those of beginners, though they have the 
least cause to entertain them. Indeed, it is so far 
from being true that these comforts are bestowed 
only upon the perfect, that sometimes they are be- 
stowed more profusely upon the imperfect, and upon 
such as come as strangers into the house of God. 
The Lord deals with man like a tender father who 
watches more carefully over his sickly children than 
over those who enjoy good health. It is for this 
reason that Jesus Christ has said: **They that are 
in health need not a physician, but they that are 
sick." 

Let us rest assured, that if St. Paul could say in 
truth, **I reckon, that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
to come, that shall be revealed in us," I am not 
wrong when I say, that the sufferings in the reli- 
gious life are not worthy to be even compared with 
the advantages and graces which religious enjoy in 
their holy state. For of those who dwell in the 
House of God is always true what holy David said : 
**They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy 
house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the tor- 
rent of Thy pleasure." 

NoWjmy dear brother Paul, I hope all your diffi- 
culties in embracing the religious life are removed. 
I hope that God, in the course of our conversation, 
has enkindled in your heart a great desire to conse- 
1 



170 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

crate yourself to His service in the religious state, 
and that you will not resemble the young man in 
the Gospel, who went away sorrowful from our 
Lord, when invited to a life of perfection in these 
words : **If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have 
treasure in heaven, and come follow Me.'' (Matt, 
xix., 21.) 

Paul. — Indeed, my dear brother Stanislas, your 
words made a deep impression upon me. I feel 
convinced that you are right in all that you have 
said. I feel a rather strong desire to follow your 
example, — but I hesitate a little, not knowing for 
certain whether this desire is inspired by God, and 
a sign of His will that I should be a religious. I 
have known certain young persons who had the 
strongest desire and the best of motives to become 
religious, and yet could never succeed. Who does, 
then, not see how difficult it is to know whether such 
desires are inspired by God and to be followed ? 

Stanislas. — This is a question rather difficult for 
me to answer. But let me tell you the reply to it, 
which I heard one day from a holy priest and reli- 
gious. St. Thomas, said he, puts the question: 
what is it in a soul that first and principally moves 
it? and he answers, that Reason first moves all other 
parts and powers of it, and that which moves Rea- 
son, is some thing better than reason ; it is not knowl- 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 171 

edge or learning, for these are not better than 
reason, but it is God ; and the holy Doctor adds, 
that they whom God moves to embrace the religions 
life, need not take further advice on the matter, be- 
cause they are led by a better principle than either 
Reason or Counsel. We may, therefore, say in truth, 
that the vocation of such persons of whom you 
speak was indeed from God, but that the Lord 
was satisfied with their firm intention of serving 
Him in the religious state. God commanded Abra- 
ham to take Isaac, his beloved son, and to offer him 
in sacrifice upon the mountain which He should 
show him. However, at the moment when this holy 
Patriarch stretched out his arm to strike his son, 
an angel was dispatched to stop the father's arm, 
and to assure him that God was satisfied with the 
readiness of his obedience. 

The man in the Gospel, whom Jesus Christ had 
delivered from the devil, most humbly besought our 
Lord to be allowed to stay with Him. Jesus Christ 
was pleased with this desire, but did not wish it to 
be accomplished; for the Gospel tells us, that our 
Lord did not admit him, but said to him : '*Go into 
the house to thy friends, and tell them how great 
things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had 
mercy on thee." (Mark v., 19.) 

St. Francis Xavier wrote in a letter that he felt 
inspired to go and preach the Gospel in China, and 



172 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

that were he not to follow this inspiration, he might 
be lost. God was satisfied with his readiness to 
follow the inspiration, for He called the Saint out 
of this life before he could carry out his intention. 

As God is satisfied with the readiness of certain 
persons to serve Him in the religious state, so they 
must acquiesce in the good pleasure of the Lord, if 
they cannot accomplish their design. 

But as to yourself, it will be rather difficult for 
you to come to a better knowledge of God's will 
amidst the vanities and distractions of the world. 
Imitate, therefore, a certain young man. called 
Theodore, who, as we read in the life of St. Pach- 
omius (G. 29), was an only son and heir to large 
possessions. On a certain festival he prepared a 
great banquet ; on that occasion God made him 
understand that all riches would profit him nothing 
at the hour of death. So he went and shut himself 
up in his room, and besought the Lord, with many 
tears, to make known to him the state which he 
ought to choose in order to secure his eternal sal- 
vation. God inspired him to go into the monastery 
of Pachomius. He obeyed the inspiration; he 
forsook all things, and fled from his family. His 
mother went to St. Pachomius with an order from 
the emperor to restore her son ; but Theodore prayed 
to God with so much fervor, that he obtained for 
his mother the grace to leave the world, and to re- 



ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 1Y3 

tire into a convent. Imitate, I say, this example ; 
retire a little from the noise of the world, in order 
to be able to raise your heart more than ordinarily 
above earthly things by means of prayer and medi- 
tation ; purify your soul, if there is no reason to 
the contrary, by a general confession ; read the 
little book which I will give you, and from which 
I have obtained so much light and comfort concern- 
ing the marks of a religious vocation and the im- 
portance of following it ; finally, present yourself 
before God in all humility and with a sincere desire 
of doing His will at the cost of any sacrifice. God 
gives * *a good understanding to them that seriously 
wish to do well." Ask constantly of our Lord to 
give you light and strength to embrace that state, 
which will be more conducive to your salvation; 
that thus you may not afterwards, when your error 
shall be irreparable, have to repent for your whole 
life and for all eternity of the choice which you have 
made. 



1* 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON THE MARKS OF A RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 

fHEN a King levies soldiers to make war, his 
foresight and prudence require that he should 
prepare weapons to arm them. For what sense 
would there be in sending them to fight without 
arms ? If he did so, he would be taxed with great 
imprudence. 

Now Grod acts in the same way. '*He does not 
call," says St. Bernardino of Sienna, *' without giv- 
ing, at the same time^ to those whom He calls, all 
tthat is required to accomplish the end for which He 
vcalls. So that when God calls a person to religion, 
He furnishes him with the physical, intellectual, 
and moral qualities necessary for the religious life. 
In other words, God not only gives him the inclina- 
tion^ but He also endows him with the ability for 
the performance of the duties annexed to that state 
of life. 

As regards ability, the physical constitution of a 
person should be such as to aid, rather than prevent, 



ON THE MARKS OF A RELIGIOUS VOCATION. ITS 

the development of his intellectual and moral 
faculties; it should be sufficiently strong to endure 
the hardships of the religious life ; and it should, 
moreover, be free from any hereditary disease. The 
mind of the postulant should be calm and deliberate ; 
it should be strong, so as to be able to apply, if re- 
quired, to study, or to many spiritual exercises, 
without danger of being deranged thereby. Weak 
minds will always be in danger of derangement from 
much mental application. This danger is so much 
the more to be apprehended if, at the same time, 
these persons arc of a very nervous temperament, 
or of a rather scrupulous conscience, or if they are 
made to fast too much, or if they have led for a 
time a very sinful life ; on account of which they 
will, in the ordinary course of Providence, sooner 
or later have to suffer many great temptations, which 
will bring upon them many hard mental afflictions 
and combats. Now all this weak minds cannot 
endure long, especially if guided — which may easily 
happen — by inexperienced or indiscret spiritual 
directors. 

With regard to the intellectual faculties, a person 
need not have talents so brilliant as to make him a 
great mind ; but he should have a sound^ practical 
judgment, that is, common sense. *'Moins d'esprit, 
plus dejugement," as the French say. Neither 
great talents for some certain branches of science, 



1T6 ON THE MARKS OP A 

nor piety and the spirit of devotion, can make nf 
for A deficiency in judgment or common sense. Sub- 
jects of medium talents, yet gifted with a sound 
practical judgment, are generaly best suited for 
religious communities ; because they are humble 
and docile. *'Men of superior talents," says St. 
Vincent de Paul, *'not possessing at the same 
time an unusual disposition to advance in virtue, 
are not good for us ; for no solid virtue can take 
root in self-conceited and self-willed souls.'' 

In reference to the intellectual faculties of a per- 
son, St. Francis de Sales expresses himself thus: 
• 'If I say that, in order to become a religious, one 
should have a good mind, I do not mean those great 
geniuses, who are generally vain and self- conceited, 
and in the world are but the receptacles of vanity. 
Such men do not embrace the religious life to hum- 
ble themselves, but to govern others, and direct 
everything according to their own views and in- 
clinations, as if the object of their entrance into 
religion was to be lecturers in philosophy and 
theology." 

**When, therefore, I speak of a good mind, I 
mean well regulated and sensible minds, and also 
those of moderate powers, which are neither too great, 
nor too little ; for such minds always do a great 
deal without knowing it ; they set themselves to 
labor with a good intention, and give themselves to 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. lYT 

the practice of solid virtues. They are tractable, 
and allow themselves to be governed without much 
trouble ; for they easily understand how good a thing 
it is to let themselves be guided." 

As to the moral qualities of a person, they 
should be such as to suit a life in common. Hence 
he should easily agree with, and yield to others, 
and be of a cheerful, happy, gay, affable and sociable 
disposition. St. Francis de Sales says : **He should 
have a good heart, desiring to live in subjection 
and obedience." '*If one sees the youthful aspirants 
to the religious institutes, here and abroad, in re- 
creation or at study, he may easily decide who wilt 
persevere by a very simple rule. The joyous faces 
and the sparkling eyes denote the future monk far 
more surely than the demure looks and stolen 
glances." (Recollect, of Four last Popes, p. 39.) 

There are many persons thus far qualified, but, 
for all that they are not called to religion, unless 
they experience, at the same time, an inclination 
for the religious life. Now this inclination is 
rothing else than the firm and constant will to serve 
God, in the manner and in the ^^Zace to which His 
Divine Majesty calls one. In many, the will is so 
inflamed with the love of the religious life, that 
they embrace it without any question about it, and 
with exceedingly great pleasure. In others, and per- 
haps in the greater part of those who are called t© 



1Y8 ON THE MARKS OF A 

religion, this love or inclination for the religious 
state is not so strong, but their understanding is so 
much enlightened by the grace of God, that they dis- 
cover the vanity and dangers of this world, seeing 
also clearly, at the same time, the quiet, the safety, 
the happiness, in a word, the inestimable treasures 
of the religious life, though perhaps, as I have just 
said, somewhat dull in their affection, and not so 
ready to follow that which reason shows them. This 
latter manner of inclination, or love for the religious 
life, is better than the former, and is more generally 
approved, by those who are experienced in these 
matters, than the other, which consists only in a 
fervent motion of the will ; for being grounded in 
the light of reason and faith, it is less subject to 
error, and more likely to last. 

Now, in the opinion of St. Francis de Sales, this 
firm and constant loill of a person to serve God in 
the manner and in the place where God calls him, 
is the best mark of a good religious vocation. **But 
observe," adds this enlightened Saint, *Hhat when 
I say Sijirm and constant will of serving God, I do 
not say that a person should from the beginning 
perform everything required by his vocation, and 
that he should be perfect at once, and never feel 
tempted, unsettled, and unshaken in his undertak- 
ing ; that he should never experience any doubts 
as to his religious calling, or should not waver at 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 1T9 

times, in a kind of irresolution, about his vocation: 
for this may happen from the weakness and re- 
pugnance of human nature, and the temptations of 
the devil, the arch enemy of all good. Oh no ! that 
is not what I mean to say, for every one is more or 
less subject to passions^ changes and vicissitudes; 
and a person will love one thing to-day and another 
thing to-morrow. No two days of our life are alike. 
To-day is different from yesterday, and to-morrow 
will be unlike either. It is not, then, by these dif- 
ferent movements and feelings that we ought to 
judge of the Jirmness and constancy/ of the will, but 
we should consider rather, whether amid this variety 
of movements, the will remains firm and unshaken, 
so as not to give up the good it has embraced ; so 
that to have a mark of a good vocation, we do 7wt 
need a sensible constancy; but a constancy which is 
\xii\iQ superior part of the soul, and which is effective. 
Therefore, in order to know whether God calls us to 
religion, we must not wait for Him to speak to us 
sensibly, nor to send us an angel from heaven to 
make known to us His will ; still less do we need 
have revelations on this subject; nor do we re- 
quire an examination by ten or twelve divines, to 
ascertain whether the inspiration be good or bad; 
whether we ought to follow it or not; *'for advice 
and reflection are necessary," says St. Thomas 
Aquinas, **in doubtful affairs ; but not in that which 



180 ON THE MARKS OF A 

regards religious vocation, which is certainly good, 
because it is recommended by our Lord Himself in 
the Gospel; the thought, therefore, of entering into 
religion needs no probation, but whosoever feels 
such an impulse in his soul, must admit of it, as of 
the voice of his Lord and Creator, and a voice 
which tends wholly to his own benefit ; for we 
ought to correspond to it well, and cultivate the first 
movement of grace, and then not to distress our- 
selves if disgusts and coldness arise concerninsr it ; 
for if we always strive to keep our will very firm in 
the determmation of seeking the good which is 
shown to us, God will not fail to make all turn out 
well to His glory." Such a will is found in those 
young persons who, quietly and with'consideration^ 
prepare themselves for their retreat from the world, 
by trying to be given more to patience, prayer, 
penance, fasting, and the frequent reception of the 
sacraments. They are in earnest about the affair, 
and do not play, or if they do, it is at a good game, 
in wLic'i they can only be winners. They will not 
act as Lot's wife, who looked back^ nor as the 
children of Israel, who longed for the flesh-pots of 
Egypt. 

When the austerities and trials of a religious life 
have been fully represented to a person ; when his 
adiiiittance has been delayed, discouraged, nay, 
even refused for the sake of trial_, and he still per- 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 181 

severes in his entreaties to be received into the 
Order, saying with St. Paul: '^I can do all things 
in Him who strengthens me/' such a person may 
also be considered to have such a good and firm 
will and a true vocation to the religious life. 

One day a young man came to Don Bruno d'Af- 
fringues, requesting to be received into his Order. 
The venerable Superior seeing that he was of a 
delicate and weak constitution, represented to him 
the great severity of the Order. The young postu- 
lant replied^ that he had previously taken that point 
into consideration^and thatGod would be his strength. 
The Superior, finding him so resolute^ addressed 
him in a very sharp tone of voice, saying : **What 
are you thinking about, in wishing to enter our 
Order ? Are you aware that every postulant, be- 
fore he can be admitted, must perform a miracle? 
Can you perform it?'' "Of myself I cannot," re- 
plied the young man, *'but the power of Gol in me 
can. I have a firm confidence in His mercy, and 
hope that, having called me to His service in this 
Order, having instilled into my mind a great aver- 
sion for the world, He will certainly not permit me 
to return to the same, as I have sincerely forsaken 
it. Demand of me_, venerable Father, what you 
please^ God will accomplish it through me, as an 
evidence of my vocation." At these words^ he ap- 
peared quite inflamed, and his whole countenance 
6 



182 ON THE MARKS OF A 

was brightened. Don Bruno, astonished at such 
firmness, embraced the young man, and with tears 
in his eyes, he said to those present : ^'Behold, my 
brethren, a vocation, that has undergone the Or- 
deal." He then turned to the young man and said: 
''Have confidence, my son, God will ever assist 
and love you, and you will love and serve God, 
which is worth more than a miracle." 

When a person is wealthy, or has good prospects 
for temporal prosperity, yet wishes firmly to rey- 
nounce everything in order to embrace a religious 
life, he must be considered to have a very good 
vocation. 

Those who, in order to become religious, make 
great sacrifices, or sufier patiently unjust contradic- 
tions and ill-treatment from their friends, should be 
considered to have a true call. 

When St. Columban was on the point of carry- 
ing out his resolution of entering into religion, his 
mother threw herself across the threshold to obstruct 
his passage ; but he courageously stepped over her 
and hastened to the place of his vocation. 

This good and firm will may also easily be sup- 
posed in those persons whose parents and ancestors 
are distinguished for their virtue and piety. The 
good fruit of the old tree before us, encourages us 
to hope, that the same kind of fruit will, in due 
time, follow the blossoms of the young tree : it being 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 183 

a law of nature^ that a good tree brings forth good 
fruit. 

* 'There are many persons," says St. Francis de 
Sales, *'who feel the first inspirations to the religious 
life rather strongly ; nothing appears difficult to 
them ; they seem to be able to overcome all ob- 
stacles; but when they meet with these vicissitudes, 
and when these first feelings are not so sensible in 
the inferior part of their soul, they imagine that all 
is lost^ and that they must give up every thing ; 
they will, and they will not. What they then feel 
is not sufficient to make them leave the world. 'I 
should wish it/ one of these persons would say ; 
'but I do not know whether it is the will of God 
that I should be a religious, inasmuch as the in- 
spiration which I now feel does not seem to me 
strong enough. It is quite true that I have felt it 
more strongly than I do at this moment; but as it 
is not lasting, I do not think that it is good/ Cer- 
tainly when I meet with such souls, I am not aston^ 
ished at this disgust and coolness ; still less can 1 
for that reason think that their vocation is not good. 
"We must, in this case, take great pains to assist. 
them and teach them, not to be surprised at these 
changes, but encourage them to remain firm in the 
midst of them. Well, I say to them, that is nothing; 
tell me, have you not felt in your heart the movement 
or inspiration to seek so great a good ? 'Yeo/ 



184 ON Till] MARKS OF A 

they say, *it is very true, but it passed away direct- 
ly.' Yes, indeed, I answer, the force of the senti- 
ment passed away, but not so entirely as not to leave 
in you some afiection of the religious life. *0h 
no,' the person says ; 'for I have always a sort of 
feeling which makes me tender on that point; but 
what troubles me is, that 1 do not feel this inclina- 
tion so strongly as would be required for such a 
resolution.' I answer them, that they must not be 
troubled about these sensible feelings, nor examine 
them too closely ; that they must be satisfied with 
that constancy of their will, which, amid all this, 
doe? not lose the affection to its first design ; that 
they must only be careful to cultivate it well and to 
correspond with this first inspiration. Do not care, 
I say, from what quarter it comes, for God has 
many ways aj calling His servants into His service, ^^ 

Although it be most desirable, and should be 
held as a general rule, that a person should embrace 
the religious life from the motive of securing better 
his own salvation and sanctification , of working 
more profitably for the salvation of others, and above 
all, from the puro intention of serving God more 
perfectly and of belonging to Him alone, yet it 
cannot be denied that God does not draw all whom 
lie calls to His service by the same ways and means. 

He sometimes makes use of preaching ; some- 
times of reading good books. Some are called 



RELIGIOUS TOCATION. 185 

by hearing the sacred words of the Gospel, as St. 
Francis and St. Anthony were, by hearing these 
words: "Go, sell what thou hast, and give to the 
poor, and follow me," (Matt. 19, 21); and, ^ 'If any 
man come after Me, let him deny himself and take 
up his cross and follow Me." (Matt. 16, 24.) 

Others have been called by the annoyances, dis- 
asters, and afSlctions which came upon them in the 
world, which caused them to be disgusted with it, 
and to abandon it. There are but few who enter 
the service of God from the motive of belonging 
to and serving Him alone. 

Among the women whose conversion is related 
in the Gospel, St. Magdalen was the only one who 
followed our Divine Saviour through love. The 
adultress came on account of her public disgrace ; 
the woman of Canaan came that she might obtain 
relief in her temporal distress. St. Paul, the hermit, 
and Arsenius, withdrew into the desert to escape 
persecution. St Paul, the Simple, became a hermit 
on account of the unfaithfulness of his wife. Blessed 
Consalvus resolved to become a Dominican, because, 
while riding gaily and swiftly through the streets, 
he was thrown from his horse into a mud-puddle, 
and was laughed at by all those who were eye- 
witnesses. While yet in the mud-puddle, he said 
to himself : **Is it thus, treacherous world, that 
you treat me ? You now deride me, but I also will 



186 ON THE MAFwlvS OF A 

laugh at jou." This said, he abandoned the world 
and embraced the religious life. 

Nicholas Bobadilla, a poor studen. of Pans, often 
went to see St. Ignatius Loyola, for the sake of relief 
in his temporal wants, but he soon felt attached to 
St. Ignatius, and became one of his first and most 
zealous companions. 

The venerable Bernard of Corlione, in trying to 
escape the hands of human justice, fell into those of 
Divine mercy by joining the Capuchins. 

Thomas Pounc, an Englishman, fell most awk- 
wardly while dancing at a ball of the Queen of Eng- 
land. "Get up, 3-0U fool," said the Queen to him. 
The young man feeling highly offended, resolved to 
avenge himself on the world by quitting it. He 
entered the Society of Jesus, where he led a holy 
life; and after having sufTered in a dungeon for 
twenty years, during the time of the religious per- 
secution in England, he finished his life by sacrific- 
ing it, at last, for the sake of the faith. 

''There are even others," says St. Francis de 
Sales, ."whose motives for embracing the religious 
life were still worse. I have heard, on good authority, 
that a gentleman of our age, distinguished in mind 
and person, and of good family, seeing some 
Capuchin Fathers pass by, said to the -.other noble- 
men who were with him, "I have a fancy to find 
out how these bare-footed men live, and to go 



RELIGIOUS TOCATION. 181 

amongst them, not meaning to remain there always, 
but only for three weeks or a month, so as to observe 
better what they do, and then mock and laugh at 
it afterwards with you." So he went and was re- 
ceived by the Fathers. But Divine Providence, 
who made use of these means to withdraw him from 
the world, converted his wicked purpose into a good 
one ; and he who thought to take in others, was 
taken in himself; for no sooner had he lived a few 
days with those good religious, than he was entirely 
changed. He persevered faithfully in his vocation 
and became a great servant of God. 

There are others, whose vocation is no better 
than this ; those who go into religion on account of 
some natural defect, for instance, because they are 
lame, or blind of one eye, or ugly, or have some 
other similar defect ; and what seems still worse is 
that they are sent into it by their parents, who very 
often, when they have a child that is half blind, 
lame, or otherwise defective, leave it by the fireside 
and say : '*This one is good fornothingin the world; 
we must send him into religion ; that will be so 
much burden taken off our hands," the children al- 
lowing themselves to be led as their parents wish. 
Thus many enter religion through disgust or wea- 
riness, or on account of disappointments or misfor- 
tunes. Such disappointments and troubles detach 
them from the love of creatures ; they preserve 



188 ON THE MARKS OF A 

them from the delusion of false appearances, and 
force them to enter into themselves ; they purify 
their hearts ; they cause goodness to take root in 
their soi-ls ; they give them a distaste for a life in 
the world. Would such souls have sought consola- 
tion only in God, if the world had loved them? 
Would they have known the sweetness of God, if 
the world had not maltreated and banished them 
from its society ? It is God Who permits such 
harsh treatment and refusals to befall them. He 
causes thorns to spring over all their pleasures, in 
order to prevent their reposing thereon. They 
would never have belonged to God, had the world 
desired them ; and they would have been adverse 
to Him, had the world not been adverse to them. 
It is thus that the Lord breaks the fetters by which 
the world held them in bondge. 

* 'There are souls," says St. Francis de Sales, 
**who, were the world to smile upon them, would 
never become religious, yet by means of contradic- 
tions and disappointments they are brought to de- 
spise the vanities and all allurements of the world, 
and understand its fallacy." 

"Our Lord has often made use of such means to 
call many persons to His service whom He could 
not have otherwise. For though God is all-power- 
ful and can do what He wills, yet He does not will 
to take away the liberty which He has given us; 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 189 

and when Ho calls us to His service, lie will Iiavo 
us enter it willingly, and not by force or constraint. 
Now, though these persons come to God, as it were, 
in anger against the world, which has displeased 
them, or on account of some troubles and afflictions 
which have tormented them, yet they do not fail to 
give themselves to God of their own free will ; and 
very often such persons succeed very well in the 
service of God, and become great Saints, sometimes 
greater than those who have entered it with more 
evident vocations or with far purer motives. God 
very often in these cases shows the greatness of His 
wisdom and divine goodness. He draws good 
from evil, by employing the intentions of these 
persons, which are by no means good in themselves, 
to make of those persons great servants of His 
Divine Majesty. Those whom the Gospel mentions 
as having been forced to partake of the feast did 
not, on that account, relish it less." 

The Divine Artisan takes pleasure in making 
beautiful buildings with wood that is very crooked, 
and has no appearance of being fit for anything ; 
and as a person who does not understand carpen- 
ter's work, seeing some crooked wood in his shop, 
would be astonished to hear him my it was meant 
for making some fine work of art (for he would say, 
how often must the plane pass over it before it can 
be fit for such a work ?) ; so Divine Providence 



190 ON THE MARKS OF A 

usually makes master-pieces out of these crooked 
and sinister intentions. He makes the lame and 
the blind come into His feast to show us that we 
need not have two eyes or two feet to enter Para- 
dise ; that it is better to go to heaven with one leg, 
one eye, or one arm, than to have two and be lost. 
Now this class of persons having entered religion in 
this way, have often been known to make great 
progress in virtue and persevere faithfully in their 
vocation. It cannot be expected that all should 
commence with perfection. It matters little in what 
manner we begin, provided we are resolved to attain 
our end by strenuous efforts. As fowlers have not 
one kind of net, nor one kind of bait to catch fowls, 
but some for one kind, and some for another, so 
God bends and applies Himself to the several natures 
of men, both for their benefit, and to maintain the 
sweetness of His fatherly Providence over all. He 
called Peter and Andrew from their boats, and 
Matthew from the Custom House, because the one 
was a publican, and the others fishermen ; He took 
Paul in the heat of his zeal of persecuting the 
church, because that was then his determination; so 
In all religious vocations, one is called upon one occa- 
sion, and another upon another, and some out of the 
midst of their sins. We must then revere and 
esteem the incomprehensible ways and inscrutable 
judgments of God in this great variety of the voca- 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 191 

tions and means which He makes use or to draw 
His creatures to His service ; with St. Paul we must 
exclaim: ^'0 the height of the riches of the wisdom 
and knowledge of God ! How incomprehensible are 
His judgments and how unsearchable His waysP^ 

Now from this great multiplicity of vocations and 
variety of motives it follows that it is often a difficult 
matter to form a correct judgment, as to whether 
a person is called to a religious life. This difficulty, 
however, vanishes in a great measure, if we apply 
the mark above given, viz, that among the several 
marks of a good vocation the best and surest of 
them all is, the firm and constant will to serve God 
in the manner and in the place to which one feels 
called by His Divine Majesty. 

The inclination, then, for the religious life im- 
plies not only the firm and constant will to serve 
God in religion in general, but it implies also the 
particular attraction to a life either exclusively con- 
templative or active, or mixed. This attraction 
must be well inquired into, as it cannot be expected 
that a man will faithfully persevere in a manner of 
life for which he feels no particular liking: it being 
almost impossible for human nature to go, for a life 
time, against a torrent. 

Although Ability and Inclination, taken in the 
sense just explained, generally suffice to prove the 
religious vocation of a person, yet there are better 
and more evident marks than these, viz : 



192 ON THE MARKS OF A 

1. Divine revelation. St. Paul the Apostle, St. 
Aloysius de Gonzaga, St. Stanislas, and other Saints, 
are examples of this kind. 

2. Special inspirations, by which a person is 
suddenly enlightened, and vehemently urged on to 
a life of perfection, and sweetly forced, as it were, 
thereto. 

But is it not true, a soul may say, that the devil 
has often transformed himself into an angel of light 
and has deceived many a pious soul. I fear, that 
the desire which I now experience to be a religious, 
may perhaps come from Satan, in order to bring me 
to greater destruction, foreseeing, perhaps, as he 
may, that I will not persevere. 

I answer, you have no reason to fear this; for 
what has the devil to do with perpetual chastity, 
with obedience, with the voluntary humiliation of 
Qurselves, being, as he is, the prince of pride and 
hating, as he does, nothing more than these virtues? 
And if this wicked spirit cannot move us to any 
particular virtue, as to the love of God, to a greater 
faith, or hope in Him, or to true and solid humility, 
no more than ice can be the cause of fire, or fire of 
ice, much less can he move us to that virtue which, 
in a manner, comprehends all virtues. 

But could it even be supposed for a moment that 
he could inspire such a desire, there would be no 
danger, says St. Thomas Aquinas. For as long as 



7.tELIGI0US VOCATION. 193 

lie suggests that which is common for good angels 
to put into our mind, there is nothing to be feared, 
because we are not forbidden to benefit ourselves by 
our enemy, especially when we know not that it is 
our enemy. Moreover, though the devil should 
move us to embrace the religious life, he could never 
move us so efiectually, unless God did inwardly 
draw us. The devil icill not divide his oicn Icing- 
dom; which he really would do, were he to go 
about and thrust sin out of a man's soul, or, which 
is the same thing, bring a man to a place where he 
may easily rid himself of it. Nor is he such a fool, 
or so little skilled in his warfare against souls, as to 
let go the prey which he holds in his claws, and 
suffer it to save itself in so strong a hold and a place 
which so much annoys him, and he himself to help 
him forward to that place, with the hope that he 
shall recover him afterwards with greater gain. Do 
then no longer mind such a foolish fear, but rest 
assured, that your holy desire for the religious life 
is from God, Who in this manner manifests His 
voice and calls you to come and receive from Him, 
for your attire, the richest robe — the grace of voca- 
tion to the religious life. 



CHAPTER VII. 

UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND PERSEVER- 
ING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 

HE Church is a body, of which Jesus Christ i3 
the head, and all the faithful are members. 
Each one is gifted with different functions, though 
all are animated by the same spirit. The good and 
perfection of a member consists in remaining con- 
tentedly in the place which Grod has assigned him, 
and in performing well the duties of its state. If 
the hand wishes to be in the place of the eye, and 
the eye wishes to be where the hand is, these two 
become burdensome, and disturb the good order and 
harmony of the body ; and being through perversity 
without nourishment, because they are engaged in 
an unnatural war, they become lifeless, and are a 
scandal to the other members and an offence to their 
head. This is the comparison which is made use 
of by St. Paul. 

It is the same with all men. God has assigned 
to each one a place and function in His Church, 



UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING, ETC. 195 

and to each state He has attached peculiar Wossings 
for those who are faithful. If we are in the state, 
or engaged in the employment or occupation which 
God has chosen for us, we enjoy a profound peace ; 
we rest under His protection ; we are nourished by 
His grace ; we are enriched by His blessings ; and 
work out our salvation with but little pain, and in- 
fallibly arrive at perfection. 

The subject of vocation, however^ is considered 
by most persons in the world as one of trifling im- 
portance ; it seems to them to be indifferent whether 
we live in the state to which God has called us, or 
in that which we have chosen for ourselves, accord- 
ing to our own fancy ; hence so many lead disorder- 
ly lives and are lost. Now it is certain, on the 
contrary, that our eternal salvation principally de- 
pends on pur choice of a state of life. Upon voca- 
tion follows justification, upon justification follows 
glorification, which is eternal life ; and he who 
deranges this order, and breaks this chaim of salva- 
tion, will fail to save his soul, whatever efforts he 
may make, or whatever labors he may undergo ; and 
it is to such that St. Augustine says, *'You run 
well^ but you are out of the road." You are out of 
the path by which God called you to walk to obtain 
your salvation. 

The Lord does not accept the sacrifices which we 
offer Him according to our own will. He had no 



196 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

regard for Cain and liis gifts. And He threatens 
those with the heaviest chastisements who despise 
His call and follow the counsels of their own hearts 
instead of following His direction. **Woe to you, 
apostate children,'' said He by the mouth of His 
prophet, ''that you would take counsel, and not 
of Me ; and would begin a web, and not by My 
spirit." 

The divine vocation to a perfect life is an especial 
and very precious grace which God does not bestow 
upon all ; and, therefore, He has reason to be dis- 
pleased with those who despise it. How much would 
a prince be offended if, having called one of his vas- 
sals to his service in preference to a courtier or 
favorite, this vassal should refuse to obey him ? 
And shall not God resent a similar insult? Ah! 
He does indeed resent such an injury, and thus He 
threatens, ''Woe to him that gainsayeth his Maker;" 
the word woe signifies, in the language of Scripture., 
eternal perdition. The chastisement of the disobe- 
dient man begins even in this life, in whichhe never 
finds rest. "Who hath resisted Him," says holy 
Job, "and hath lived in peace?" and therefore he 
fails to receive such special and efficacious graces as 
God bestows upon His beloved children, and which 
are so necessary in order to persevere in the practice 
of virtue and to attain eternal life. Hence, as the 
theologian Habert says, he will with great difficulty 



PERSEVERING IX THE RELIGIOUS TOCATION 197 

save his soul. With great difficulty will he work 
out his salvation ; and like a limb out of joint, he 
can scarcely live a regular life. Although, strictly 
speaking, he may be enabled to save his soul, yet 
it will be with great difficulty that he will enter 
upon the riglrt way and work out his eternal salva- 
tion. St. Bernard calls the ingratitude of not follow- 
ing the vocation of God * 'a scorching wind, drying 
up the fountain of piety, the dew of mercy, and the 
stream of grace." 

St. Gregory, writing to the Emperor Maurice, 
who, by an edict, had forbidden his soldiers to 
become religious, said that it was an unjust law 
which closed the gates of Paradise to many, because 
there are many who cannot be saved unless they 
leave all things and embrace the religious state. 

A remarkable case is related by Father Lancizio 
Df a youth of great talent in the Roman College, 
^vho, whilst making a retreat, asked his confessor 
if it was a sin not to correspond to a vocation to the 
religious life. The confessor replied that it was 
pot in itself a grievous sin, for such a vocation was 
rather a counsel than a command, but that it would 
greatly endanger his eternal salvation. The young 
man, however, did not obey the call. He went 
afterwards to pursue his studies at Macerata, where 
be soon began to neglect the exercise of prayer and 

of holy communion, and at length gave himself up 
7* 



198 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

to a wicked life ; and soon after, as he was one 
night leaving a house of ill-fame, he was mortally 
wounded by a rival. A priest ran to his assistance, 
but the young man expired before the minister of 
God reached him. Thus did God make known the 
chastisement which is prepared for those who despise 
their vocation. 

At Turin, a young man gifted with fine qualities 
had resolved to leave the world, but he was turned 
from his resolution by a friend, or rather by an 
enemy, whose affectionate letters painted the world 
to his imagination in such ravishing colors that he 
gave up the thought of entering the house of God. 
The spiritual Father of this deluded young man 
heard of the perfidy of his friend, and wrote to him 
to cease his diabolical attempts, and if he desired the 
salvation of his companion, to advise him to fulfil 
his good resolution. *'If you do not," said he, 
**you will experience what recently happened to a 
young man who left the service of God by the per- 
suasion of another. He lived an abandoned life, 
was implicated in a robbery, and died on the gal- 
lows." All this was useless; the seducer persisted 
and the young man obeyed him. After some days 
he was arrested with a band of robbers that had 
just assassinated some travelers. From his dun- 
geon he wrote to the Priest that his threat had 
been a prophecy, for he was then in irons as an 



- PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS TOG ATI ON. 199 

assassin. To tUe great dishonor of his family, he 
was at once condemned to death. Thus the word 
of the wise man was fulfilled: "Because they have 
not consented to My counsel, but despised all My 
reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their 
own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.'' 
(Prov. 1, 30, 31.) 

A very destinguished lady received many fu-vors 
from God, as long as she remained at home, pass- 
ing her time in exercises of piety : and as the grace 
of vocation was among these favors, she resolved to 
consecrate her virginity to God. But by degrees 
she left her retreat, gave herself more liberty, and 
finally became very fond of a young gentleman, 
who, in his turn, conceived an affection for her. She 
forgot her vocation, and thought only of hastening 
her marriage. To celebrate the day with great 
pomp, a numerous train followed her to the house 
of her betrothed. But in descending from her car- 
riage she slipped, fell and broke her neck. Thus, 
she expired before the door of the house which her 
own will had chosen, instead of the cloister to which 
God called her. 

When the Countess Blanche retired to a monas- 
tery, it was feared that she would abandon it on 
account of the four enemies which beset her : these 
were her noble birth, her remarkable beauty, her 
youth, and the remembrance of her riches. Car- 



200 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

dinal Peter Damian wrote to the Countess, and, to 
encourage her to persevere, related the tragical 
history of a great princess who had disregarded her 
vocation. It is as follows: Dominica, of Gielva, aprin- 
cess of dazzling beauty, married a Doge of Venice, 
and passed her life in pleasure and luxury, without 
troubling herself with the service of God. The 
purest dews of Heaven were collected for her baths; 
to save her trouble, her food was nicely minced at 
table by her servants, and her chamber was filled 
with the most precious perfumes. You can form no 
idea of the luxury that surrounded her. Every day 
she spent several hours before her mirror in painting 
herself, and would not allow a single hair to be out 
of place. Divine Justice did not fail to overtake 
her. In a horrible sickness her flesh putrefied, and 
the stench which came from her sores was so in- 
supportable that she resembled carrion devoured by 
worms. Her maids and servants fled from her. A 
single attendant ventured from time to time to car- 
ry her some food in a silver bowl, but provided her- 
self with perfumes, and retired quickly to avoid 
fainting. What a sight! to see this princess — 
lately so nicely perfumed, now nothing but corrup- 
tion ! the body that wore such costly attire, now 
nothing but ulcers! her who received the homage 
of all the great, now left to her servants ! She, to 
whose pleasure nature and art could not con- 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS TOCATION. 201 

tribute enough, now lay eaten up by cancers, plunged 
in filth, a burden to herself, and insupportable to 
others. A little while ago she would not allow one 
to speak to her of death ; now, death is the object 
of her most ardent desires. How terrible is the 
sentence passed by God infinitely just: "I called 
and you refused ; you have despised My councel 
and neglected My reprehensions. I also will laugh 
in your destruction, and will mock when that shall 
come to you which you feared. When sudden 
calamity shall fall upon you, you shall call upon 
Me, and I will not hear because you have not con- 
sented to My counsel." (Prov. 1: 24-30.) 

Another instance is related by Father Pinamonti. 
A certain novice was thinking of abandoning the 
religious life. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to 
him, seated on His throne, and commanded, with 
great severity, that his name should be erased from 
the book of life, which so terrified him that he per- 
severed in his vocation. 

How many such examples do we read in the an- 
nals of history! How many miserable young people 
shall we see condemned on the day of judgment for 
not having obeyed their vocation 

For those who have rebelled against the light 
of the Holy Grhost, it seems a just punishment 
that they should be deprived of the light ; and for 
those who have refused to walk in the way assigned 



202 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING A^# 

to them by the Lord, preferring one which they 
have chosen for themselves without light, that they 
should be lost. * 'Because you have despised My 
calling," says the Lord, *'I also will laugh in your 
destruction, and will mock when that shall come to 
you which you feared.'' That is to say, God will 
not listen to the cry of those who despise His voice. 
St. Augustine says, *' Those who have despised the 
voice of God when it invited them, shall feel the 
vengeance of His justice for their contempt." 

When, therefore^ God calls us to the state of per- 
fection, if we would not endanger our eternal sal- 
vation, we must obey, and obey instantly, unless 
prevented by a very grievous reason. 

When the devil sees that he cannot succeed in 
making one give up the resolution of entering into 
Religion, he suggests various causes of delay. To 
some he suggests their youth ; to others that they 
must take longer time to consider, consult with their 
friends, have a good trial of their strength and some 
experience by the practice of good works before 
hand, in order thus to prepare for more difficult 
matters. 

Now there is one excellent answer to all these 
temptations, that is, to persuade ourselves and 
to acknowlege as a certain truth that any kind of 
delay in so profitable and wholesome a matter is not 
only to no purpose, but is exceedingly dangerous. 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 203 

For this reason all holy men, knowing how many 
wicked snares lie hidden under these deceitful de- 
liberations, cry to us with one voice to break off all 
delays and procrastinations in this matter. *'Make 
haste," writes St. Jerome, **I beseech you, and 
seeing your ship stuck in the sands, cut the rope 
asunder rather than untie it." This Saint here 
means to say, that as in a vessel on the point of 
sinking, a man would rather think to cut the ropes 
than untie them, so should a man who is in the 
midst of the world seek to fly from it as soon as 
possible, that he may escape from the danger of eter- 
nal perdition, which is there so easy. 

St. John Chrysostom, in one of his Homilies to 
the people on the beauty and pleasure of the religious 
life, concludes thus: '^Perhaps many of you are 
now warm at heart, and burn with a great desire of 
so beautiful a state of life. But what will it benefit 
you, if while you are here you have this fire, and 
as soon as you go out you quench it, and the flame 
and heat disappear ? What remedy? While your 
love is yet hot, go presently to those angels, and 
there enkindle it more. Do not say, I will first 
speak with my friends ; I will dispatch my business. 
This delay is a beginning of shrinking away. The 
devil is at hand eager to insinuate himself into your 
mind, and if he can bring about but a short delay, 
he will succeed in bringing you to great coldncv^s; 
therefore, it is said, 'Dtlaij not from day to d^y^ ' 



204 UPON THE IMPOIITAXCE OF FOLoOWING AND 

**Beliold," says St. Augustine, *'the Giver of 
mercy opens the gate to you. Why do you delay 
entering ? You should be glad, if He should open 
to you at any time upon your knocking. You did 
not knock, and yet He opened ; and do you dare re- 
main still without? 0, do not delay. The Holy 
Scripture says of the works of mercy : Do not say, 
go and come again; to-morrow, I icill give^ when 
you can presently do well ; for you know not what 
may happen the day following. You have heard 
the commandment of not deferring to be merciful 
towards another, and are you cruel towards your- 
self by delays? Give alms to your own soul. I 
do not say you should give it anything, but do not 
put aside the hands of Him Who gives." 

But why quote the opinions of the Fathers of the 
Church on this subject? Have we not the authority 
of the Gospel for it, in the prompt obedience of the 
Apostles? Have we not a strong confirmation of 
its necessity when we read that the Diciple wished 
to bury first his father, and Christ would not led 
him — but answered : '^Follow Me, leave the dead 
to bury their dead;" and to another who asked only 
to bid those at home farewell, the Divine Wisdom 
said : **No man putting his hand to the plough and 
looking back is apt for the Kingdom of heaven." 

What is the drift of the pretence of taking advice, 
or making some trial of ourselves, but a cloak i(^ 



PEESEVEllING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 205 

hide the snares which the devil lays for us, and the 
secret love of the world, which we do not like open- 
ly to acknowledge, in order that thus we may bo 
longer in leaving what we leave unwillingly? This 
is indeed most dangerous ; for nothing is easier 
than never to forsake that with which we so un- 
willingly part. These lights, inspirations and 
movements of God are transient, not permanent, 
and therefore_, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, tho 
divine call to a perfect life should be followed 
instantly. 

St. Antoninus relates the sad history of a young 
man of rare talents, who was called by God to the 
Order of St. Prancis, and who resolved to enter it, 
but deferred his entrance from day to day. To in- 
crease the delay, he accepted the care of a parish. 
After a few days he was seized with a violent fever, 
and, that the world might know the cause of this 
punishment, he exclaimed in a frightful tone : ** Ah ! 
unhappy me ; I have despised the voice of God : 
Alas ! I am lost." They begged him to make his 
confession, but he refused, saying : ' 'I am damned." 
They at fi?st thought he was out of his senses, but 
in the end saw that he was perfectly sensible. They 
spoke of the mercy of God, and urged him to promise 
obedience to his vocation, to kiss the crucifix and 
make a good confession. He replied: *'I will not/ 
confess. I have seen Almighty God in wrath against 
8 



206 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

me. I have heard from His mouth this irrevocable 
sentence : *I have called thee, thou hast refused 
Me: therefore, depart into hell.''' After these 
words, the young man expired. Are you astonished 
at this ? It is not at all strange, for St. Anselm 
says: *'How many have I known to promise and 
delay, who have been so surprised by death, that 
they have neither been able to enjoy what induced 
them to delay, nor fulfil what they had promised !" 
If it is so very important to follow our vocation 
promptly, it is not less important to persevere in it. 
The evil spirit always envies our perseverance in 
the good which we have commenced, because he 
knows this to be the only good that shall be rewarded. 
It is not enough to commence well, we must also 
finish well. *'IIe who perseveres to the end shall 
be saved." No man is paid for unfinished articles. 
We must then finish the good which we have com- 
menced. The Holy Ghost admonishes every one 
thus : ' 'Let every man abide in the calling in which 
he was called," (I. Cor. 7 : 20,) for, * 'Blessed is 
the man that shall continue in wisdom — and that 
considereth her ways in his heart." (Eccles. l4 : 
22, 23.) "Blessed that religious," observes Cor- 
nelius aLapide on this passage., ''who well considers 
his vocation and institute, penetrates into and ad- 
mires its wisdom, and endeavors, with all liis strength 
and heart, to comply with all its precepts and duties." 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 207 

God permits the devil to try the faithfulness and 
constancy of His servants in their holy vocation. 
One of the most usual temptations which our enemy 
makes use of to shake our constancy is, to excite in 
us disgust and dissatisfaction for our manner of life. 
Hence it is, says St. Francis de Sales, that wo so 
often hear people complain of their state of life. It 
is one of the usual temptations of the enemy to make 
us feel discontented and to render us unhappy. 
Whilst we arc so often admonished by the Holy 
Grhost to be satisfied with the condition in which we 
are placed, the evil spirit continually incites us to 
wish for a change. It is a great secret and great 
perfection to remain firm in the boat of life in which 
God has quartered us. We fancy that by changing 
our ship we shall fare better : yes^ if we changed 
ourselves. My God, I am a sworn enemy of these 
useless, dangerous and bad desires. God wills to 
speak to us amidst the thorns and the bush (Exod. 
3: 2), and we will Him to speak to us in 'Hhe 
wMstling of a gentle airy (3 Kings 19:12.) We 
ought then to remain on board t>he ship in which 
wc are, in order to cross from this life to the other ; 
and we ought to remain there willingly and with 
affection, because, although we should not have 
been placed there by the hand of God, but by the 
hand of man, still, once there, God wills us to be 
IherCj and consequently we ought to be there sweet- 
ly and willingly. 



208 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

'*Let us, therefore, not think of anything else; 
let lis not sow our wishes in other people's gardens ; 
let us not wish for that which we are not, but let 
us earnestly desire to be the very best of what we 
are. Let us endeavor to do our best to perfect our- 
selves where we are, and bear manfully all the 
crosses, light or heavy, that we may encounter. 
Believe me, this is the leading j)^^inciple, and yet the 
one least understood in tjie spiritual life. Every 
one follows his own taste; very few place their hap- 
piness in fulfilling their duty according to the 
pleasure of our Lord. Where is the use of building 
castles in Spain when we are ordered to live in 
France. 'As a bird that wandereth from her nest, 
so is a man that leaveth his place,' (Prov. 27 : 8,) 
[his studies, his charge, his occupation, his spiritual 
exercises, or station of life, etc.] Let every one 
remain firm in his vocation^ if he wishes to ensure 
his tranquillity of mind^ peace of heart, progress in 
virtue and holiness of life." 

To become unfaithful to our vocation is for us to 
suffer as many pangs as a limb which^ through 
some accident, has been wrenched out of place. We 
are continually tormented by evil spirits, who have 
power over a soul that is out of its proper sphere of 
action. We are no longer under the protection of 
God, since we have withdrawn from His guidance, 
and voluntarily left His watchful Providence. We 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 209 

fall often and grievously, because we are unsustained 
by the grace which belongs to the state in which 
God desires us to be. Thus we lose our devotion, 
neglect our prayers, and give ourselves no trouble 
to seek God ; and if we do seek Him, we find an 
angry God, who reproaches us incessantly with our 
infidelity, and with the contempt we have shown 
His service. We hear a voice, which admonishes 
us day and night, from the depths of our souls : 
You are not where God designed you to be. You 
are not doing that which He ordered you to do. It 
is not He who sent you to this place. It is not He 
who has given you this commission. Instead of a 
recompense, you shall receive from Him severe 
chastisements. 

St. Ephrem, the Syrian, writes : *' You must love 
to stay in that place which God has assigned to you; 
there you must fly idleness and laziness ; for it is 
not by changing our place of abode that our passions 
will be crushed, but only by constant watchfulness 
over them. And St. Bernard^ in his thirty-second 
letter to the Abbot St. Nicasius, writes thus: ''Tell 
brother Hugo, on my part, not to believe every 
spirit, and not to give up so soon what is certain 
for what is uncertain, remembering that the devil 
envies uo nothing so much as our perseverance, 
which he tries to shake to the utmost of his power ; 
for he knows but too well that this virtue alone 



210 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OP FOLLOWING ANB» 

will be crowned; let him understand that it is safer 
for him simply to persevere in his present vocation, 
than to give it up under the specious pretext of ob- 
taining a greater gpod. ** Withdraw yourself from 
such a temptation/' writes St. Francis de Sales to 
a religious ; * 'treat it as you would treat that of 
blasphemy, of treason, of heresy, of despair. Do 
not discourse with it; do not capitulate ; do not listen 
to it ; cross it as much as you can by frequent re- 
newal of your vows, by frequent submissions to your 
superiors." ''I feel an extreme compassion," wrote 
St. Alphonsus to his brethren in religion, ''when I 
think of those who were once our brethren in religion 
and who lived in peace, and under obedience, united 
to God, and contented with everything that hap- 
pened to them : and now they are in the midst of 
the world, in confusion and disturbance. They have 
indeed the liberty to go where they like, but do 
what they may, all is without regularity, without 
interior spirit, and without quiet. From time to 
time they will think of making meditation, but when 
their infidelity to God, and their ingratitude to Him 
in having abandoned their vocation, stares them in 
the face, the remorse of conscience which they feel 
is too acute ; and hence it comes to pass that, in 
order to avoid the bitterness of that remorse, they 
often give up prayer ; and so their lukewarmness 
and their disquiet of mind increases more and more. 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 211 

** Their misfortune did not begin with grievous 
faults, but with little defects ; and the devil mada 
use of these to bring them little by little to the loss 
of their vocation. I repeat, I pity them from the 
bottom of my heart ; for I am certain that their 
whole life is nothing but confusion and disquiet ; 
and if their life is full of straits, much more so will 
be their death. Some years ago I had hard work 
to comfort one of these, who at the thought of the 
loss of his vocation became insane, and cried out in 
a frenzy that he was damned, and that there was no 
salvation for him, because he had voluntarily lost 
his vocation." 

History is full of such fatal instances. P, Jerome 
Piatti tells us of a novice who was visited by a rela- 
tion^ who said to him, **Listen to me j I only speak 
because I love you, and I beg you to reflect that 
your constitution is not fitted to undergo the fatigues 
and labors of the religious life ; by remaining in the 
world you may please God better, and bestow on 
the poor the riches with which He has blessed you* 
If you persist in your undertaking you will repent 
of it, for after a little time you will be obliged to 
quit the community in disgrace, or you will be only 
able to perform the offices of cook or porter, on 
account of your want of talents and indifferent 
health ; it is therefore wiser to do at once what you 
will be obliged to do at last." The poor young 



212 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

man, thus urged, left the monastery, and many 
days had not elapsed before he fell into all kinds of 
vices ; and in a quarrel with some rivals, he, to- 
gether with the relative who had perverted him, 
was so severely wounded that they both died on the 
same day ; and what is still worse, the unfortunate 
novice expired without confession, of which he must 
have stood in so great need. 

It is related by Father Casalicchio, that a certain 
knight, when on the point of entering the house of 
a woman of ill-fame one night, heard the bell of the 
Capuchin monastery toll for the office, upon which 
he cried out, *'0, how can I dare to offend God a^ 
the very moment in which His servants are about 
to praise Him?" And having been thus called by 
the Lord, he afterward entered that Order. But his 
mother did and said everything in her power to 
make him return to her, and at last succeeded. And 
what was the consequence ? Only a few months 
afterwards the young man was slain by some enemies, 
and his dead body carried on a board to his mother. 

Denis, the Carthusian, relates that two novices of 
his Order, having been perverted by their parents, 
left the convent. Not many days after their depar- 
ture the father of the two youths, as well as them- 
selves, died of the plague ; and, sad to relate, as the 
author remarks, they had a bad death. 

F. Mancinelli informs us that a young man of 



PEE SEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 213 

noble birth, though he had entered religion and had 
resisted with great courage all the arts of his mother, 
who left nothing untried to divert him from his pur- 
pose, at length yielded to her entreaties and con- 
tinual pursuit, and unhappily left the community. 
The mother, having accomplished her desire, sought 
to procure him all sorts of wordly amusements, and 
made him take lessons in fencing. But, alas ! for 
one day as the youth was engaged in that exercise 
with a friend, he received a blow on the eye^ from 
the violence of which he died upon the spot, and 
without confession. 

Father Casalicchio writes, that when he was giv- 
ing a mission in a place near Cosenza, called Caroli, 
he heard of a young man who was withdrawn from 
the Capuchin monastery ; first his father went and 
demanded, with great boldness, so as to cause a great 
disturbance in the monastery, that his son should 
be given back to him ; afterwards he sent one of 
his brothers, with several armed companions, among 
whom there was a brother-in-law of the young man, 
and they effected his removal by force. Attend to 
the sequel. A month afterwards the father lost his 
life in a tempest which overtook him in a voyage at 
sea. At the end of sixty days the brother-in-law 
died at a distance from his home, and the body of 
the unhappy novice, who had been unfaithful to his 
vocation, was within a short space of time covered 



214 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AND 

with sores, so that from head to food he became an 
entire wound, and soon died in a fit of convulsions; 
and God only knows in what disposition of soul he 
died. 

Wfi read also in the life of St. Camillus de Lellis, 
that a young man who had entered his community 
at Naples was greatly persecuted by his father. The 
good novice at first withstood hira very courageous- 
ly ; but having occasion to go to Rome he had an 
interview with his father again^ and this time yielded 
to the temptation. On dismissing him the saint 
predicted to him that he would come to an evil end 
and die by the hand of justice, which was verified, 
for the young man, who had married, at length, in 
a fit of jealousy , murdered his wife and two servants ; 
and having been apprehended by justice, notwith- 
standing that his father expended his whole fortune 
to save the life of his unhappy son, he was publicly 
beheaded at Naples, nine years after his departure 
from the monastery. It is related also, in the life 
of the same Saint, that to another novice who desired 
to return to the world, St Camillus announced the 
chastisements of God ; he, however^ left the convent 
and went to Messina, where, six months afterwards, 
he died suddenly without the sacraments. 

The misfortune of these miserable souls should 
make us be determined to sufier everything rather 
than the loss of vocation. 



PERSEVERING IN THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 215 

* 'Stand firm, therefore/' says the Holy Ghost, 
**ia the lot set before thee, and in prayer to the 
most high God," that is, be firm and constant in 
repelling all suggestions and temptations of the 
world, the flesh and the devil, inducing you to give 
up your vocation. Be likewise assiduous in prayer 
to God and the Blessed Virgin for strength and 
courage to be able to lead a life worthy of and cor- 
responding to your vocation. As soon as you have 
been called to a certain state of life, cast your an- 
chors well, in order that your vessel may not, by 
degrees, be driven off on the wide ocean, and expe- 
rience will soon teach you what calm and peace 
you will enjoy in the harbor." (St. Ephrem, Ad- 
hortat. 4.) *'For the life of a laborer that is con- 
tent with what he hath shall be sweet, and in it 
thou shalt find a treasure." (Eccles. 40: 18.) The 
religious state is **a tree of life to them that lay 
hold on it ; and he that shall retain it is blessed." 
(Prov. 3: 18.) 

**0 let us never cease," wrote St. Alphonsus to 
his brethren in religion, *'to thank God, and let us 
pray Him to aid us in valuing this great gift aright, 
this gift whict has not been granted to so many 
others, who are our countrymen and our friends. 
What claims had we more than^hey ? Perhaps only 
our greater iniquities ; and yet God, notwith- 
standing our unworthiness, has delivered us out of 



216 UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING, ETC. 

this miserable world. I am not alarmed by the 
fear of poverty, or of sickness, or of persecutions: 
the only fear that terrifies me is lest any one of 
you should one day be seduced by some passion to 
leave the house of God, and should go into the midst 
of the world, as has happened to so many who were 
once in the congregation, and who now are out of 
it, and live without peace. And even if some of 
these should save their souls, they nevertheless will 
find that they have lost that beautiful crown which 
God had prepared for them in heaven, if they had 
persevered in their vocation. 

'^Therefore, my dearest brothers, let us always 
pray to Jesus Christ, and to our Mother Mary, that 
God of His mercy may grant to us all the gift of 
perseverance.'' 



CHAPTER Vm. 

WITH WHAT PROMPTITUDE ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA 

OBEYED THE DIVINE CALL IN SPITE OF THE 

GREATEST DIFFICULTIES. 

11 HE story of Flavia Domitilla's life is very 
^ interestiDg. She was a person of high rank, 
being cousin to the Emperors Titus and Domitian^ 
and what was much better^ many of her relations 
were saints and martyrs ; for she was the daughter 
of St. Plautilla^ and niece to Flavius Clemens, who 
also was a martyr. She had two servants, Nereus 
and Achilleus, who were brothers, and had been 
converted by the preaching of St. Peter. They were 
so much more faithful and well conducted than any 
of her other servants ; that she could not help notic- 
ing them; and when she came to speak to them, 
she was even more pleased with them. They said 
that they were Christians ; and when she asked them 
what it was to be a Christian, they told her all 
about a future state, and the great day of judg" 
ment, and Jesus Christ having become man, and 
7 



218 PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA. 

having died on a cross to save sinners. She liked 
very much to hear them speak about these things, 
and she used very often to escape from her gay com- 
panions, and go to talk quietly with them, till at 
last she was converted, and was baptized. 

As Flavia Domitilla was of the Emperor's family, 
and -was besides very rich, many young noblemen 
wished to marry her ; and after some time her friends 
engaged her to Aurelian, a handsome and agreeable 
young man of high birth. Domitilla was very much 
pleased with the idea of this marriage, and being a 
gay young girl, she thought only of dressing her- 
self and making herself look as beautiful as she 
could, in order that Aurelian might be the more in 
love with her. One day when she was busy choos- 
ing the most elegant dress she could think of, and 
arranging all her jewels, so as to be most becoming 
to her, her two faithful servants, Nereus and 
Achilleus, said to her, **Ah ! dear Madam, if you 
would but take the same care to adorn your soul 
with virtues, as you do to deck out your body, you 
would not fail to win the love of Jesus Christ, the 
King of heaven ; and He would take you to be His 
spouse, and then this beauty of yours, which will 
now so quickly fade, would last forever, and you 
would become even much more beautiful than you 
are now, and would shine gloriously in the Court 
of Heaven." Domitilla did not much fancy this sort 



PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA. 219 

of advice, and she answered : ''All that is very true ; 
but still there is no sin in marrying ; and if I am to 
marry, I may just as well take pains to set myself 
off properly, and to win the love of my husband, so 
that I may be happy in my marriage." Then Nereus 
replied: "You look only on the pleasures of this 
life, which so quickly pass away, and do not think 
about the everlasting happiness of heaven; you 
look on the advantages of marriage, and not on the 
trouble and misery which it may bring on you." 
And then he and Achilleus went on to show her 
how, when she became a wife, she gave herself up 
to a man of whom she could know but little till she 
went to live with him, and who would, perhaps, treat 
her very unkindly. For if he took a fancy, he 
might shut her up and not let her see her father and 
mother or any of her old friends; or if he were 
jealous, he might be angry with her for every word 
she spoke, and everything she did innocently ; or if 
he were ill-tempered, he might beat her, and use 
rough and harsh language to her. And then, if she 
should have children, they would be a continual 
cause of anxiety and trouble to her, from the very 
time of their bu'th, for they would be ill, or they 
would be hurting themselves, or they would be dis- 
obedient and unruly, or they would not be so clever 
or so handsome as she wished them to bo ; and then 
there would be the care of nursing them, and teach- 



220 PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA. 

ing them, and putting them forward in the world; 
and perhaps, after all, they would die young, o.r 
what is worse, they might live to be a disgrace to 
their family, and a curse both to themselves and 
to their parents. They said all this and much more, 
which might well make a young girl think twice 
before she married. 

After they had gone through all the troubles and 
anxieties of marriage, Nereus began to speak of 
the blessed state of virginity. ''A virgin," said he, 
"livco on earth the life which the angels live in 
heaven, and she will have in heaven a bright crown 
which is given to no one but virgins. She has God 
for her husband, and she knows that He can never 
treat her unkindly ; whatever she tries to do for 
love of Him, He will be pleased with ; He will never 
neglect her or forsake her, but He will always be 
with her, speaking sweetly to her, and putting 
happy and holy thoughts into her heart ; and she 
will be free from all the cares of this world, and 
will not be afraid of sickness or any misfortunes 
that may happen to her, for His arms will always 
be round her, His beautiful countenance will always 
be smiling on her, and the thought of His love will 
be a paradise of unspeakable happiness to her. 
Think, then, my dear young mistress, which hus- 
band is the best, and choose him whom you think 
you can love most — either a mortal man, who, be 



PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLATIA DOMITILLA 221 

he ever so good, will one day die and leave you, or 
Jesus Christ, Who will never die, but Who will 
rejoice and bless you with His company for ever 
and ever/' 

Domitilla was very much struck with what Nereus 
and Achilleus said. Her conscience told her that 
they were right, and a voice within her seemed to 
call her to be tile spouse of Jesus. But how could 
she give up all the things of which she was so fond ? 
Her beautiful dresses, her costly jewels, the gay 
company she was in the habit of keeping, and, above 
all, the love of Aurelian ? It was a hard struggle 
between the love of God and the love of the world ; 
and for a short time it seemed as if the world must 
conquer. For the -devil whispered to her that, after 
all, there was no need to give up all these things, 
for why could not she marry Aurelian, and yet love 
Jesus, as many married women did. But then there 
flashed across her mind the words of the Apostle 
St. Paul, ''The virgin thinketh on the things of the 
Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in 
spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the 
things of the world, how she may please her hus- 
band." And she felt and knew that it was her 
whole self our Lord was asking of her, and that He 
would not be satisfied if she gave Him only half her 
heart. So she tried to look at the matter simply 

and earnestly, and she prayed to God to guide her 
7* 



222 PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA. 

and to give her strength to do His will, whatever it 
might be. At last the grace of God triumphed, 
and she exclaimed, * 'Would to God I had heard all 
this before I was engaged to be married. But, even 
now, it may not be too late, and God may yet open 
to me some means by which I may get free from 
Aurelian." On hearing these words, Nereus and 
Achilleus gave fervent thanks to God, Who, by His 
grace, had brought their mistress into such a good 
disposition of mind; and they earnestly exhorted 
her to make an offering of herself to God, and to 
trust confidently and lovingly in Him. The next 
question was how she was to break off her marriage. 
This was a subject which required some considera- 
tion ; for it was not to be supposed that Aurelian 
would submit quietly to lose his rich and beautiful 
young wife ; and if he made any disturbance about 
it, her change of religion would come to the ears of 
the emperor, who was beginning just then to perse- 
cute the Christians. And now the devil set before 
her the trials that she was going to draw on herself 
— the dark dungeon, the scourging, the rack, the 
wild beasts, the fire, and all the horrible torments 
that were inflicted on Christians; and he asked her 
how a thoughtless young girl like herself, who had 
spent her life in dressing and amusing herself, could 
bear such things as these. All that he put into her 
head seemed very sensible, and when she thought 



PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLA VIA DOMITILLA . 223 

about the tortures she could not help shuddering, 
and she felt that if she thought much about these 
things she should not have the courage to keep to 
her resolution. So she determined to put away all 
these thoughts with which the devil was tempting 
her, and not to trouble herself about consequences ; 
and she committed herself gently to the care of her 
dearest spouse, Jesus, trusting entirely to His love, 
and beseeching Him tp take care of her and to give 
her strength to do His will and to bear whatever 
trials He might send her 

Nereus and Achilleus, meanwhile, had gone to 
the Pope, St. Clement, and had told him that she 
wished to consecrate her virginity to Jesus, and to 
become His spouse instead of marrying Aurelian. 
The Church of Rome was now in great trouble on 
account of the persecution, and the Holy Father 
was in constant anxiety for thos6 of his flock who 
were being persecuted, lest they should not bear 
their trials with fortitude. It was, therefore, a 
great joy and encouragement to him that a young 
girl like Flavia Domitilla should wish, in a time 
like this, to consecrate herself to Grod's service, for 
he knew that nothing but the grace of God could 
lead her to make such a holy resolution. He was 
filled with joy and courage, and he exclaimed: — 
"It seems to me that the time is not far off, when 
our Lord will be pleased to crown you, and me, and 



224 PROMPTITUDE OP ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA. 

Domitilla with martyrdom ; and since He commands 
us not to fear those who kill the body, but cannot 
hurt the soul, let us not care for the displeasure of 
the emperor^ but let us boldly obey God, Who is 
the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. '^ He then 
went with Nereus and Achilleus to the house of 
Flavia Domitilla, and after talking to her, and find- 
ing that she had a true vocation, and was ready to 
suffer everything for the love of Jesus^ he conse- 
crated her to be His spouse and to spend her life in 
loving and serving Him. 

It was not long before the troubles which Domi- 
tilla expected came upon her. At first, Aurelian 
would not believe that she really meant to break 
off the marriage ; he thought it was a whimsical 
fancy, and he did not doubt but that he should 
soon bring her round by flattering words and beau- 
tiful presents. But when he found that she would 
not listen to his words, and that she refused his 
presents, he began to look more seriously on the 
matter, and complained to the emperor. Domitian 
was very angry when he learned that she was a 
Christian, and he ordered her to be brought before 
his tribunal. Then this gentle and timid girl, who 
had never before appeared in public, and had always 
been treated with the greatest respect and kindness, 
was roughly seized and brought a prisoner into a 
public court of justice. Domitian spoke to her in 



phomptitude of st. flavia domitilla. 225 

coarse, insulting language ; he encouraged the people 
who were present to laugh at her and revile her, 
and he tried to frighten her by threatening to inflict 
the most horrible torments on her. But she re- 
mained quite unmoved ; till at last Domitian, finding 
he could do nothing with her, gave her her choice, 
either to sacrifice immediately to* the gods, or to be 
banished to the island of Pontia. The choice was 
made without a moment's hesitation, and Flavia 
Domitilla was sent ofi* to Pontia. 

In these days, when people have broken the laws, 
they were sometimes banished ; and though it is a 
great punishment to them to be taken away from 
their homes and their families, and to be obliged to 
work very hard, yet they have the comfort of know- 
ing that they will at all events meet with just and fair 
treatment. But it was quite different with those 
who were banished by the Roman emperors. They 
were put in charge of some wicked man, who thought 
only how he could make them most wretched ; and 
he would often torture them, or kill them secretly 
if he knew that the emperor wished to get rid of 
them. This was the sort of way in which Flavia 
Domitilla was now treated. She was not allowed 
to see any of her friends ; she was lodged in close, 
unhealthy rooms ; she was fed with coarse, unwhole- 
some food ; she could not walk in the garden or 
move a step without being watched; she was treated 



226 PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAYIA DOMITILLA. 

rudely by the servants and soldiers who waited on 
her and guarded her ; and if it was noticed that she 
took pleasure in one thing more than another, she 
was immediately deprived of it. Most people would 
iave been very much fretted by this sort of petty 
persecution, carried on every day and all day long. 
But Domitilla did not seem to notice or to feel the 
things that were done to vex and annoy her. She 
gave herself entirely into the hands of her dearest 
Spouse, Jesus Christ, and she knew that whatever 
happened to her was ordered by Him. When we 
love a person very much we like to do what he 
wishes ; and so Domitilla was very happy to live in 
close rooms, and to eat coarse food, and to be watched 
by the soldiers, and treated rudely by the servants, 
because she loved Jesus, and knew that it was His 
will that these things should happen to her. She 
had still one great consolation, which was the com- 
pany of Nereus and Achilleus, who had followed her 
to Pontia. They waited on her most affectionately ; 
they did all they could to make her more comfort- 
able ; and above all, they talked to her about Jesus, 
who was so dear to them all. 

After some time Aurelian came to see her, hop- 
ing to find that she was tired out with all that she 
had suffered in her banishment, and was ready to 
marry him. He was very much surprised to see 
how calm and joyful she looked, and to hear her 



PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAVIA DOMITILLA 22T 

talk of the great happiness she was enjoying, He 
looked round at the wretched room in which she 
was confined, and he was puzzled to think what 
could make her so happy where other people would 
have been very miserable. He saw, however, that 
she had still one consolation, which was the com- 
pany of Nereus and Achilleus^ and he was so selfish 
and cruel as to take them away from her. 

As Nereus and Achilleus were only slaves, he 
might do whatever he liked to them. So he had 
them cruelly scourged, and then sent them to Ter- 
racina, to a friend of his, called Memmius Rufus, 
who was governor of the place, and he told him to 
punish them as severely as he could, because they 
were obstinate Christians. Memmius Rufus at first 
tried to persuade them to sacrifice to the gods ; but 
they declared that nothing in the whole world would 
ever induce them to give up what the Apostle St. 
Peter had taught them. He, therefore, determined 
to see what would come of these words when they 
were put to the torture, and he ordered them to be 
placed on a horrible wooden machine, called the 
horse, which was used for torturing slaves. Here 
their limbs were drawn outof joint, and their sinews 
were strained to the farthest stretch, and at the 
same time plates of red hot iron were applied to 
their sides and other parts of their naked bodies, so 
as to burn them dreadfully. But in the midst of 



228 PKOMPTITUDE OF ST. FLATIA DOMITILLA. 

their agony tliey remained unmoved, and broke out 
into songs of triumphant joy as each fresh torture 
^vas inflicted on them. Memmius Rufus, at last, 
saw that it was hopeless to conquer their constancy 
and he had them beheaded. 

Aurelian hoped that now that Nereus and Achil- 
leus were gone, Domitilla would soon make up her 
mind to marry him, and to return to the gay life 
she used formerly to live at Rome. But he was 
again mistaken. Though Nereus and Achilleus had 
been a great comfort to Domitilla, yet it was in 
Jesus that her real strength and comfort lay ; and 
now that He had been pleased to let her friends be 
taken from her, she looked only the more simply to 
Him for support and consolation. And so it came 
to pass that when Aurelian again visited her, ex- 
pecting to find her dull and out of spirits, she was 
even more firm in her faith and more happy than 
she had been when he was there before. 

Aurelian was now convinced that there was no 
hope of conquering Domitilla's obstinacy by keep- 
ing her in the island of Pontia, and so he deter- 
mined to take her away and marry her by force. 
He, therefore, carried her with him to Terracina, 
and invited a large party to be present at his wed- 
ding. Aurelian and his friends began to feast and 
make merry, while poor Domitilla was shut up in a 
room alone, sad and trembling, waiting till Aurelian 



PROMPTITUDE OF ST- PLATIA DOMITILLA. 229 

should come to her and force her to marry him. It 
seemed now that all hope was lost, and that she 
must at last be obliged to marry him. But still 
Domitilla's heart did not sink, and she continued to 
hope and trust in Jesus. She had vowed herself 
to Him, and she was sure that He would defend' 
her, because she was His own spouse. She knelt 
and prayed in her solitary chamber, while the jovial 
party in the banqueting room drank and feasted. 
At last they began to dance, and Aurelian was the 
merriest of them all, dancing and laughing with all 
his might, and rejoicing to think that he had at last 
conquered this proud Christian girl. But in a 
moment the merry scene was changed. God struck 
Aurelian, and he fell down dead. Then there was 
a sudden cry of alarm^ followed by a loud weeping 
and wailing, which ran through the house, and told 
Domitilla that our Lord had heard her prayer, and 
had delivered her from the great danger which had 
threatened her. 

This was not, however, the end of all that Domi- 
tilla had to suffer for Jesus' sake. Luxorius, Au- 
relian's brother, was very angry with her, because 
he said that she had been the cause of his brother's 
death, and he accused her to Trajan, who at this 
time was emperor, and he got leave to question her, 
and put her to death if she would not sacrifice to 
tht heathen gods He came to Terracina, where 



230 PROMPTITUDE OF ST. FLAYIA DOMITILLA. 

she was living with two other young women, Theo- 
dora and Euphrosina, whom she had persuaded to 
"be Christians and to vow themselves to a life of 
chastity. They were all three brought before Lux- 
orius, who told them that the emperor ordered 
them to sacrifice to the gods, and he advised them 
to obey at once, for if they did not, he would put 
them to a cruel death. They refused to do so, and 
answered boldly and firmly to all he asked them 
about their religion. He knew there was little 
chance of making Domitilla change her mind, and, 
besides, he was not sorry to punish her for the 
death of his brother. So he ordered them all three 
to be shut up in a room, which was then set on fire, 
and thus they were burnt to death. The next 
morning Cesarius, a deacon, came to the place and, 
on going to the room in which they had been shut 
up, he found them dead, lying on the floor on their 
faces, just as they had prostrated themselves in 
prayer, but without a hair of their head being singed 
or any part of their body being burned. The fire 
had released their souls from this mortal life, but it 
had been miraculously prevented from burning 
their bodies. Cesarius took up their bodies and 
buried them with great honor. The church keeps 
the feast of St. Flavia Domitilla, together with that 
of SS. Nereus and Achilleus, on the 12fch of May. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ON VIROINITY. 



iIIEAK reader, I would wish from my soul that I 
Cf ' could enkindle in your heart that divine fire 
which Jesus Christ came to cast on earth ; the fire 
of love — love of holy chastity. I would wish from 
my soul that I could implant in the heart of every 
one the snow-white lily of purity. This virtue is 
so pleasing to Grod, that the Holy Ghost cries out 
in a transport of joy : **0 ! how beautiful is a chaste 
soul in the light of glory." And, indeed, a chaste 
soul is purer than silver and brighter than the 
finest gold. She is a lovely and radiant star in the 
hand of the Most High. Bring together all that is 
beautiful in nature, and you will find that a chaste 
soul is more beautiful than all. How beautiful is 
the sweet light of morning, how beautiful are the 
varied tints of the rainbow, but a chaste soul is far 
more beautiful. The dazzling beams of the noon- 
day sun are bright, indeed, but the light that beams 
from a pure soul is far brighter. The silvery stars 



232 ON yiRGINITT. 

glitter brightly in the dark blue sky, but a chaste 
soul glitters far more brightly. The spring- lily and 
the fresh fallen snow look white and pure, but the 
purity of a chaste soul is far whiter, for it is white 
with the purity of heaven. 

There is a sublime and awful beauty 'in the rolling 
thunder, and in the vivid lightning, as it flashes 
through the dark clouds, but there is something far 
more sublime and awful in the beauty of a chaste 
soul. There is in her a majesty on which even 
angels gaze with fear and delight. So marvellously 
beautiful is a pure soul in the light of glory, that 
could we but gaze on her, we could die of joy ; for 
such a soul is the living image of the living God. 
Pure, virgin souls are the fairest flowers in the 
garden of the church ; they are the most cherished 
portion of the flock of Jesus Christ. The virtue of ' 
chastity is so noble that it elevates man above the 
laws of nature ; it gives him a foretaste of heaven ; 
it places him on a level with the angels. From an 
enemy of Grod, chastity makes man a friend of God ; 
from a weak, sinful mortal, chastity makes him an 
angel. 

Our divine Redeemer assures us that in heaven 
there shall be no marriage ; the blessed in heaven 
shall not marry, or be given in marriage, but they 
shall be like the angels of God. Now, the chaste 
soul anticipates here on earth the life of heaven, 



ON VIRGINITY. 233 

and lives as an angel amid the dangers and corrup- 
tion of this world. It is true there is a difference 
between an angel and a pure soul, but they differ 
in happiness only and not in virtue. The chastity 
of the angel is more happy, but the chastity of a 
pure soul is more heroic. Yes, I repeat it^ if, 
though the chastity of the angels is happier, yet the 
chastity of a pure soul is more virtuous, more heroic. 
I know full well that the angels are most pure and 
sinless, but it is their nature to be so. The angels 
are pure spirits. They are free from all the restraints 
of matter ; they are free from the miseries of this 
life ; they live in heaven. They stand not in need 
of food, or drink, or sleep. They have not to wage 
continual war again-st wild, unruly passions — against 
the world, the flesh and the devil. The sweetest 
songs, the most ravishing melodies, cannot charm 
them. The fairest forms of earthly beauty cannot 
allure them. If, then, they are chaste, they are so 
without struggling, without suffering. But when 
weak man — sinful by nature, subject to a thousand 
wants, condemned to live in the midst of a corrupt 
world, with dangers within and dangers without^ 
dangers on every side — when weak man struggles 
bravely against his very self, against the pleasures 
of the senses, against the charms of the world, against 
the allurements of the demons — when weak man 
struggles untiringly against his most deadly enemies, 
8* 



234 ON VIRGINITY. 

who cease not to tempt him, day or night, waking 
or sleeping, at work as in prayer, in the solitude 
of his chamber as on the busy street, and when, 
with the grace of God, man triumphs over all — 
triumphs through a long, weary life of ceaseless war- 
fare — and lives as an angel, ah ! that is noble, that 
is lieroic, that is svblime, that is god-like. 

Yes, dear reader, a chaste soul is not only more 
bright and beautiful than all the beauties of nature, 
she is not only the brightest ornament of the holj 
church, she stands not only on a level with the 
angels; nay, she is superior to the angels — she is 
like unto God. No wonder, then, that the virtue 
of chastity is so much loved and admired by God 
and by men. Even the brute creation, even inani- 
mate nature, loves and honors a chaste soul. We 
can find inumerable examples of this in the lives of 
the Saints. Whenever the blessed Agnes, of Monte 
Pulciano, went out walking in the garden or in the 
fields, the flowers began to bud and bloom around 
her, as if her very presence brought them the sun- 
shine and the fresh air of Paradise. Whenever St. 
Francis of Assissi went to walk in the woods, the 
little birds fluttered around him and perched on his 
shoulders, and sang to him in their own tiny way 
the praises of God ; and then the Saint, full of joy, 
would caress them, call them his ** dear little sisters,'' 
and then would give them his blessing. Even the 



ON VIRGINITY. 235 

wild beasts grew tame in the presence of this chaste 
soul. They forgot their fierceness, and obeyed his 
voice^ as they obeyed, in days of old, the voice of 
Adam in the garden of Paradise. There is^ dear 
reader, in the virtue of chastity something so beau- 
tiful, so majestic, so glorious, that even the heathens, 
even the fierce savages — nay, even the most cor- 
rupt and degraded hearts^ dead to every sense of 
shame and honor, cannot help admiring and loving 
it. We can see from history how highly the virtue 
of chastity was honored by the corrupt pagan nations 
of Egypt and Rome, as well as by the savage tribes 
of ancient Gaul, and at the present day we hear, on 
every side, the cry of admiration which is wrung 
from the hearts of even the most bitter enemies of 
holy faith, by the pure lives of those ministering 
angels, the Sisters of Charity. See them during 
the late war, going through the hospitals, going 
through the midst of the dead and the dying, 
going unharmed through the midst of friends and 
foes. Where was the man so degraded, so 
brutalized, that dared insult the Sister of Charity ? 
No ! there was not one. Why was this universal 
respect ? Ah ! it was because they are virgins. 

0, how beautiful is a chaste generation ! Truly, 
it is esteemed, it is admired, it is loved by God and 
by man ! The Holy Church, enlightened by the 
Holy Ghost, esteems so highly the virtue of chastity, 



236 ON VIRGINITY. 

that she requires it as an indispensable condition of 
all her servants. No one can ascend the steps of 
her altars and open the tabernacle in which Jesus 
reposes ; no one can bear the glorious Son of the 
Virgin Mary in triumphal procession ; none can call 
down the Eternal Son of God from the highest 
heavens ; — no one but the priest, and he must be 
a virgin ! No one can preach the Word of God to 
encourage the good and to convert the sinner ; no 
one can strike off the chains of sin, in the tribunal 
of penance, and cleanse the soul in the precious 
blood of Jesus Christ; no one can administer that 
Heavenly Food which is the life to the world ; no 
one can prepare the soul for its fearful passage into 
eternity — I repeat it, no one but the priest^ and he 
must be chaste ; he must be a virgin. Do you not 
see, then^ my dear reader, that the salvation of the 
entire world depends in a certain degree upon the 
preservation of holy chastity ? 

But not only does inanimate nature ; not only 
do the wild beasts ; not only do the most degraded 
men ; not only does the Holy Catholic Church honor 
and esteem the virtue of Chastity, God Himself 
honors and loves this virtue with a most special 
love. God is a most pure spirit, and the source of 
all purity. The Son of God is begotten eternally 
of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeds eter- 
nally from Father and Son, but this generation, this 



ON yiRGINITY. 237 

procession, is shrouded in the dazzling splendor of 
ineffable purity. When God created the world He 
placed His own seal upon His creatures, and this 
seal was — holy purity. The angels were the first 
works of His hands, and He made them pure and 
spotless. When God created our first parents and 
placed them in the garden of Eden, He created 
them pure and sinless virgins. And when the 
ever-blessed Son of God came upon the earth to 
ransom us. He chose for His forerunner a pure vir- 
gin^ a virgin sanctified from His mother's womb^ 
a virgin to whom the prophet had given the glorious 
title of **angel of God;" it was the great St. John 
the Baptist. 

And of whom was Jesus born ? whom did Jesus 
choose before all others to be His mother ? Ah ! 
dear reader, you know it well ; it was the Blessed 
among women — it was the stainless Lily, the orna- 
ment and glory of our race, — it was the Immaculate 
Virgin Mary. So greatly does God love and prize 
the virtue of holy chastity, that in order to preserve 
it unsullied in His blessed Mother, He superseded 
the laws of nature; He wrought an unheard of 
miracle, and Mary became a fruitful Mother and 
remained a spotless Virgin. And whom did Jesus 
choose before all men to be His foster father? 
Whom did He choose to be spouse and guardian of 
His Blessed Mother ? It was the humble St. Jo- 



238 ON VIRGINITY. 

seph. St. Joseph was a yirgin. Which of all the 
disciples did Jesus love most tenderly ? Who was 
it that rested his head upon the bosom of Jesus at 
the last supper, and heard the throbbings of His 
sacred heart ? To whom did Jesus bequeathe His 
own dear mother, as He hung expiring upon the 
cross ? Ah ! dear reader, it was no other than the 
Evangelist of love — the virgin St. John. And who 
were the first flowers- — the first sweet roses of the 
redemption ? They were the Holy Innocents and 
the Virgin Martyr St. Stephen. Even those among 
the apostles who were married left their wives as 
soon as Jesus called them to His service, and lived 
ever after in holy chastity. 

You know how great was the love which Jesus 
bore to little children. He loved to see them around 
Him ; and when the apostles wished to drive them 
away, Jesus said : **Let those little children come 
to Me." Then Jesus would take the little ones in 
His arms ; He would embrace them and bless them, 
then He would say to those around Him : **Unless 
you become as little children you cannot enter the 
kingdom of heaven." Jesus Christ assures us that 
the guardian angels of little children are always 
gazing in the face of His Heavenly Father, t. e., 
they are always praying for God's most special pro- 
tection over those little ones. Then Jesus pro- 
nounces a most terrible woe against all those that 



ON VIRGINITY. 239 

lead children into sin: **Woe to him," He says, 
**that scandalizes one of those little ones. It were 
better for him that a mill-stone were tied around 
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths 
of the sea." Now, why does Jesus love children 
with such a special love ? Why does He watch 
over them with such tender care ! Why does He 
guard and protect them with more than mother's 
love ? Ah, dear reader, it is because children are 
yet pure, because they are yet innocent. 

But even if we had no other proof of the un- 
speakable beauty^ the inestimable value of holy 
chastity, the example of our Divine Saviour alone 
would draw all hearts irresistibly to love this 
angelic virtue. Jesus Himself, as you know, was 
a virgin, and He loved His virginity with a jealous 
love. Our Blessed Redeemer was the most meek , 
and humble of men. The perfidious Jews sought 
to blacken His character by the foulest calumnies, 
and He bore it aU with patience. They called Him 
a heretic and a false prophet. They sneered at 
Him on account of His poverty ; they called Him 
a Galilean, a carpenter, and the son of a carpenter. 
They treated Him as an ignorant clown, as a mad- 
man, and even as one possessed by the devil. Those 
wicked men were not ashamed to tell our dear Lord 
to His face that He was a sorcerer and a minister 
of Satan. Our Blessed Redeemer bore all these 



240 ON VIRGINITY 

sneers and calumnies with the patience of a God. 
But there was one sin — one stain that He never 
suffered to be branded upon His character, and that 
was the stain of impurity. Never did His most 
bitter enemies dare to accuse Him of such a sin. 
Nay, He challenged them publicly ; He defied them 
to their teeth to convict Him of any sin, or even 
the least shadow of a sin, against this holy virtue, 
so dear to His heart was this heavenly virtue, so 
jealous was He of the honor of holy Purity. 

holy, lovely, divine virtue of Purity, how 
wonderful, how amiable, how beautiful must thou 
be, since thou hast captivated the heart of God 
Himself! Yes, dear reader, the beauty of holy 
Chastity has so enamoured the heart of Jesus that 
He has chosen the most endearing words that lan- 
guage can find to express His ardent love for pure 
souls. When Jesus speaks to ordinary Christians, 
He calls them His servants and He is their Master. 
When He speaks to faithful and obedient souls, He 
calls them His sheep and He is their Shepherd. 
When He speaks to His beloved disciples, He calls 
them His friends. His brethren ; but, when He 
speaks to the chaste soul — ah ! then He uses far 
more tender language — He calls her His sister. His 
spouse, *'Soror mea, Sponsa." He calls her His 
*'sister,'' for His love is pure as a sister's love. 
He calls her His spouse, for His love is always 



ON VIRGINITY. 241 

tender and ardent as the love of a bridegroom for 
His bride. 

Long ago God uttered a remarkable prophecy : 
**I shall espouse thee forever, said the Lord; I 
shall espouse thee injustice; I shall espouse thee 
in mercy ; I shall espouse thee in faith." This 
prophecy was not then understood ; but when the 
Son of God came upon earth to establish a new 
race of virgins, then it was that this prophecy was 
not only understood but fulfilled, and its fulfilment 
continues, and will continue to the end of time. 

In order to show us the reality of these spiritual 
espousals, our Divine Redeemer has often appeared 
to chaste souls, in a visible form, and espoused them 
in a sensible manner. One day, during the time 
of carnival, the pious virgin, St. Catharine, of Sien- 
na, was praying in her cell. Her relatives and 
neighbors were amusing themselves, according to 
the custom of the season ; but she sought her plea- 
sure in God alone. On a sudden our Blessed Sa- 
viour appeared to her and said: * 'Because thou 
hast shunned the vanities and forbidden pleasures 
of the world, and hast fixed thy heart on Me alone, 
I shall now espouse thee in faith and unite thy soul 
to Mine." Then St. Catharine looked up and saw 
beside our Saviour the Blessed Mother of God. 
She also saw there St. John, the Evangelist, St. 
Paul, the Apostle, and St. Dominic, the founder of 



242 ON VIRGINITY. 

the order. The prophet David, too^ was present at 
her espousal, and he played on his harp with mar- 
vellous sweetness. The Blessed Virgin Mary now 
took the right hand of St. Catharine and presented 
her to our Blessed Saviour. She besought her 
divine Son to accept this virgin for His spouse. 
Then Jesus smiled graciously upon the Saint. He 
drew forth a golden ring, set with four precious 
stones, in the centre of which blazed a magnificent 
diamond. He then placed this ring upon the finger 
of St. Catharine and said: *'I, thy Creator and 
Redeemer, espouse thee in faith. Be faithful until 
death^ and we shall celebrate our nuptials in heaven." 
The vision disappeared, but the ring remained on 
the finger of St. Catharine. She could always see 
it ; but by a special grace it was invisible to others. 
fchaste souls, I speak especially to you, whose 
hearts are yet pure and unsullied — to you, whose 
souls are yet gleaming with the glory of virginity. 
0, for the love of Jesus, be mindful of your dignity. 
Eemember that in the holy sacrament of Baptism 
you became the living temples of the living God, 
and the Holy Ghost took up his dwelling in your 
hearts. You became children of God, heirs of 
heaven, and spouses of Jesus Christ. Yes! This 
is the dignity to which God has called you. And 
who is Jesus — who is this heavenly Bridegroom, 
Who wishes to claim your hearts ? Ah ! you know 



ON VIRGINITY. 243 

it already ; He is the glorious Son of the Virgin 
Mary, conceived in her chaste womb by the power 
and operation of the Holy Ghost. He is beautiful 
— the most beautiful of the children of men. He 
is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands. His 
is a beauty that never wearies^, a beauty which ago 
can never alter — that never fades. His beauty is 
the joy of the blessed in heaven ; it is a beauty 
on which the angels gaze with ever-flowing delight. 
All the beauty of earth and heaven is but a feeble 
ray of His unutterable beauty. 

Jesus is loving. 0, how faithful, how ardent, is 
the love of Jesus Christ ! He has loved you from 
all eternity. He has made every sacrifice to win 
your love. He has loved you unto death, to the 
death of the cross. He will never abandon you, 
unless you yourself cast Him from you ; and when, 
at the hour of death, the nearest and dearest forsake 
you, then will Jesus stand at jour side ; He will 
console you and deliver your soul from the hands 
of your enemies. 

And Jesus is powerful. He is King of kings 
and Lord of lords ; He is the Judge of the living 
and the dead. He is the Creator of all things, 
visible and invisible. He is God. At His name 
every knee must bend in heaven, on earth, and m 
hell. The heavens above are His throne ; the 
earth beneath His footstool. At His touch the sick 



244 ON YIRGINITY. 

are healed, and the dead restored to life. He 
speaks, and the wild winds grow calm ; the foaming 
waves subside at His voice. He calls the stars by 
name, and they answer to His call. Thousands of 
angels minister unto Him, and a thousand times 
ten thousand angels surround Him, and await His 
bidding in trembling awe. 

And Jesus is rich. All the gold of the moun- 
tains, all the pearls of the ocean, are His. His are 
all the treasures of eartb, and sea, and sky. He 
opens His hand and all creatures are filled with His 
blessings. 

The holy virgin martyr, St. Agnes, was sought 
in marriage by a rich and powerful youth of Rome. 
When she heard his proposal, she answered : * 'Be- 
gone from me, food of death ! My heart already 
belongs to another." Then the young nobleman, 
who loved her passionately, offered her countless 
treasures. He offered her gold, and pearls, and 
precious stones, and costly garments. He offered 
her all the honors, all the wealth he had inherited 
from his ancestors. The virgin smiled in pity at 
such an offer. * * You offer mo riches, '^ she answered, 
''and my bridegroom possesses all the treasures of 
earth and heaven. He has placed on my finger the 
bridal ring. He has given me the bridal robe more 
costly than the queens of earth can wear. He has 
adorned my ears with glittering jewels, and my 



ON VIRGIMTY. 245 

neck with costly pearls. He has placed on my 
brow a bridal crown, whose glory shall never fade, 
and His blood is upon my cheek." When at length 
the holy virgin was condemned to die, because she 
would not renounce her heavenly bridegroom, Jesus, 
she went with joy to the place of death like a bride 
hastening to the marriage feast. All who saw her 
wept ; but Agnes did not weep. The hands of the 
executioner trembled, his face grew pale, and the 
tears started unbidden to his eyes; but Agnes 
smiled, for she feared not death. **Why do you 
wait?" she cried ; * 'strike, and let me die for Him 
who has died for me I Strike ! and let this body 
perish, which can be loved by another than Him, 
whom I love." Then the virgin raised her eyes 
and hands to heaven and said : '*0 Jesus, I have 
yearned for Thee ; now I behold Thee. I have 
hoped in Thee ; now I possess Thee. I have loved 
Thee on earth ; now I shall love Thee forever in 
heaven." Then the youthful virgin knelt and 
bowed her head. With her own tiny hands she 
turned aside her long golden hair, and bared her 
neck to the blow, and Agnes remained a virgin 
and received the martyr's crown. 

O, dear reader, who is there that would not 

love such a bridegroom as Jesus ? Well might 

even the angels envy the happiness that is granted 

to us frail and sinful mortals. The angels are but 

9* 



246 ON VIRGINITY. 

the ministers of Jesus ; chaste souls alone are His 
spouses. I know full well that all are not called to 
live in perpetual virginity ; but all are called to lead 
pure lives ; all are called to observe chastity accord- 
ing to their state, for nothing impure can enter 
heaven. I know that all are not called to lead on 
earth the life of virgins, but I say blessed are they 
that are called. * 'Blessed are they that are 
called to the marriage feast of the Lamb." Blessed 
are they here on earth, blessed are they in heaven ! 
All the joys and pleasures of this earth cannot be 
compared to the happiness of a pure soul. 

A virgin is free from all the cares, the anxieties^ 
the burdens of a married life. You, dear reader, 
knoWvperhaps how bitter these cares and anxieties 
are, and that nothing but death can relieve them. 
Indeed, so great and so numerous are the miseries 
of married life, that could people have a year of 
noviceship before binding themselves to that state, 
I fear there would be but few vocations. If any 
one thinks that I exaggerate, I would refer him to 
the statistics, where he can find the number of 
divoixjes that have, within the past few years, been 
granted in our own enlightened Republic, as well 
as in the various parts of the civilized world. 

Now,^a virgin is free from all these cares. Her 
care^ her only care, is to please her heavenly bride- 
groom, Jesus Christ, to make herself beautiful in 



ON VIRGINITY. 247 

His eyes. She only thinks of His beauty, His 
mercy, His love. Jesus is her joy, her peace, her 
paradise. You would wish me, dear reader, to 
describe to you the pleasures of holy chastity, but 
I would ask you : Can you describe the sweetness 
of honey to one who has never tasted it ? No ! 
my dear reader, and neither can I describe to you 
the sweet pleasures of holy chastity, unless you 
yourself have tasted these pleasures. Language 
has no words to describe them to one who has never 
experienced them. But^ believe me, the joys of 
holy chastity far surpass all the pleasures of the 
senses, all the joys of earth. If you wish, dear 
reader, to be convinced of what I say, then go, 
stand beside the death-bed of a pure soul ; behold 
the calm joy that beams on her face, listen to the 
sweet song of gladness that flows from her lips. 

When the Blessed Mary, of Oignies, was about 
to die, her soul was filled with such heavenly joy 
that she could no longer contain it within her breast. 
She burst forth into a melodious hymn of praise and 
gladness. For three days and three nights she' 
continued to sing, and her voice only grew louder 
and stronger as she drew near her end ; and it was 
sweet and clear as the voice of an angel. She con- 
tinued thus to sing until her pure soul went forth 
to join in the melodious choirs of the blessed in 
heaven. Thus died this chaste soul, and thus, too, 



248 ON VIRGINITY. 

have thousands died who served God in holy 
chastity. 

Now, I ask you : Can that soul have been sad 
and unhappy during life who can sing and rejoice 
at the hour of death ? Can he have feared pain or 
sorrow who smiles and exults in the very face of 
death? Ah, my dear reader, to the chaste soul, 
death is a welcome messenger, who tells her that 
the Bridegroom calls, that the marriage feast is 
ready. And blessed, ab ! thrice blessed is he that 
is called to the marriage feast of the Lamb. 

St. John was taken up in spirit to the summit of 
a lofty mountain, and there he heheld a faint 
glimpse of the unutterable glory that is reserved 
for virgins in heaven. ''Behold," he says, "I saw 
a Lamb standing on Mount Sion and there were 
with him one hundred and forty-four thousand, who 
bore His name and the name of His Father, written 
on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from 
heaven. It was as the noise of many waters and as 
the sound of great thunder ; and the sound that I 
heard was as the voice of harpers piaying on their 
harps. And they sang a new canticle before the 
throne ; and no one can sing that canticle but those 
who have been purchased from the earth. These 
are they who have never been defiled with women, 
for they are virgins, and they follow the Lamb 
withersoever he goeth." 



ON VIRGINITY. 249 

0, dear reader, how great must be the glory of 
virgins in heaven ! Star differs from star in bright- 
ness, but the radiant star of virginity shall shine 
with a brightness, that far exceeds all others. The 
virgins shall bear the name of the Lamb, the sweet 
name of Jesus, and the ineffable name of God, upon 
their forehead. They shall sing a canticle, which 
no one else can sing ; a new canticle, a canticle far 
surpassing in sweetness and sublimity the melodies 
of the angels and the hymns of the rest of the 
blessed. And the virgins shall follow the Lamb 
whithersoever He goeth. Others, indeed, shall follow 
the Lamb, but the virgins shall be the nearest to 
their divine Bridegroom. All the blessed shall be 
filled with joy, and no one shall annoy the other ; 
but of all the blessed, the virgins shall be the most 
intimately united to Jesus ; they shall receive from 
Him as their Bridegroom the most tender marks of 
His love ; they shall be the darlings of His sacred 
Heart, the foundlings of His Immaculate Mother. 

0, dear reader, can there be one that does not 
love the heavenly virtue of holy chastity, a virtue 
which is so pleasing to God ? I am sure that could 
you but understand the wondrous beauty of this 
god-like virtue, you would willingly sacrifice 
wealth, health and honors, nay, life itself, rather 
than lose the glorious crown reserved for virgins in 
heaven. But we carry this precious treasure in 



250 ON VIRGINITY. 

frail vessels, and we live amid the dangers of a 
corrupt world, with dangers within us, dangers 
without us; dangers from enemies, visible and 
invisible. 

If, then, this virtue, if your immortal soul is dear 
to you, for the love of Jesus, engrave these two 
words deeply in your heart : Watch and pray ! 
Watch over your soul that no sinful thought 'may 
enter there^ and should it enter unawares, cast it 
out instantly^ as you would do a disgusting insect, 
or a spark of fire. Watch over your heart that no 
sinful affection may possess it. Watch over your 
eyes that they may not gaze on any pictures or 
books, or other objects, that could soil the lustre 
of your purity. Watch over your ears that they 
may listen to no immodest words, or words of 
double meaning. Watch over your tongue, and 
remember that your tongue has been sanctified in 
holy communion, by touching the virginal flesh and 
blood of Jesus Christ. Watch over your whole 
body, for your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, 
consecrated in baptism, and he that pollutes a con- 
secrated temple is accursed of God and His holy 
angels. Be watchful day and night, and avoid the 
occasion of sin. Avoid those persons and those 
places which are to you an occasion of sin. Flee 
from them as you would from a serpent; for he that 
loves danger shall perish in it. '*If your eye be to 



ON VIRGINITY. 251 

you an occasion of sin, pluck it out and cast it from 
you, for it is better to go blind into the kingdom of 
heaven, than with both eyes to be cast into the pit 
of hell. And if your hands or your feet be to you 
an occasion of sin, cut them off and cast them 
from you, for it is better to go lame and maimed 
into the kingdom of God, than to have two hands 
and two feet to be cast into hell fire." These are 
the words of Jesus Christ, my dear reader ; He 
certainly knew what He was saying. You must 
watch and pray. You must pray to Jesus. Jesus 
is a jealous God and He commands you to call 
upon Him in the hour of temptation. You must 
hasten to the altar, and receive often into your heart 
the virginal flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. You 
must partake of the ** wheat of the elect, and of 
the wine that maketh virgins ; for unless you eat 
of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, 
you shall have no life in you !'^ You must pray to 
Mary, the Queen of Virgins, the lovely standard- 
bearer of virginity. The very name of Mary is a 
sweet balm which heals and fortifies the soul. The 
very thought of Mary's immaculate purity is a 
check upon the passions. The love of Mary is a 
fragrant rose which puts to flight the foul spirit of 
uncleanness. 

A young man who was very much addicted to 
the sin of impurity came once to confession to a 



252 ON VIRGINITY. 

certain priest. The good priest was very greatly 
afflicted on learning that the young man had always 
fallen again into this sin after every confession. 
He advised the young man to place himself entirely 
under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
He told him to say a Hail Mary every morning and 
evening in honor of her immaculate purity, to kiss 
the ground three times, and to say : "0 Mary, my 
Mother, I give myself entirely to thee this day ; I 
consecrate to thee my eyes, my ears, my tongue, 
my heart and my whole body and soul. protect 
me, for I am thine." And whenever he was 
tempted he should say : **0 Mary, help me, for I 
am thine !" The young man followed this advice, 
and in a short time, he was entirely delivered from 
this accursed sin. Now, this same priest related 
this fact one day from the pulpit. Amid the 
audience there was an officer, who kept up a crim- 
inal intercourse with a certain person. As soon as 
he heard this fact, he also made the resolution to 
practice this devotion, in order to free himself from 
the shameful slavery in which he was bound. In 
a short time he, too, was entirely freed from the 
degrading vice of uncleanness. Some months after^ 
however, he had the impudence to go again to the 
house of his companion in sin, as he wished to see 
whether she too had changed her life ; but no 
sooner did he come before the door of the house. 



ON VIRGINITY. 253 

than a strange feeling of terror seized upon him, 
and he cried out : *'0 Mary, help me^ I am thine !" 
That very instant he felt himself thrust back by an 
invisible hand and found himself at a distance from 
the house. He immediately recognized the danger 
in which he had been, and returned his most heart- 
felt thanks to God and to His holy Mother for 
having preserved him. Remember, then, to watch 
and to pray. Repeat again and again with the 
Holy Church: ''Inflame, Lord, our vains and 
hearts with the fire of Thy Holy Spirit, that we 
may serve Thee with a chaste body, and please 
Thee with a clean heart." 



CHAPTER X. 

ox THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR THE SALVATION 

OF SOULS. 

t 

It is an article of our holy faith that the Son of 
^Grod descended from heaven, became man and 
died on the infamous gibbet of the Cross for no 
other purpose than to save mankind from perpetual 
destruction. His whole life was devoted to this 
purpose. For this purpose alone he established His 
Church and called religious to be His co-operators. 
Kings and monarchs of this world are bound to 
take good care of the temporal welfare of their 
subjects ; but it belongs to religious, and it is their 
paramount duty, to work for the salvation and 
sanctification of their fellow-men. This it that gain 
which religious are allowed to make, nay, which 
must be the only object of all their thoughts, 
schemes, labors, sufferings and prayers. 

As their divine vucation obliges them continually 
to work with all possible efforts for this great object, 



ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS, ETC. 255 

it is necessary for them to be enkindled with true 
zeal for the salvation of souls. 

Now, what is the meaning of zeal for the salva- 
tion of souls? It is a desire to see God truly loved, 
and honored, and 'served by all men, so much so 
that those who are inflamed with this beautiful fire 
endeavor to communicate it to the whole world. If 
they perceive that God is offended, without their 
being able to put i stop to such offences, they weep 
and lament; they feel interiorly devoured and con- 
sumed by the fervor of their zeal. **Who should be 
looked upon as a man consumed with the zeal for 
the house of God?" asked St. Augustine. *'He 
who ardently desires to prevent offences against 
God, and endeavors to repair such offences as he 
could not foresee, and who, when he cannot induce 
those who have sinned to weep, weeps and groans 
himself when he sees God dishonored." With such 
a zeal the saints of the Old Law were inflamed. 
''I found my heart and my bones," says Jeremiah 
(xx., 9, 10), ''secretly inflamed, as with a fire that 
even devoured me ; and I fainted away, not being 
able to resist it; because I heard the blasphemies 
of many people." **I was inflamed with zeal for 
the God of armies," says Elias, '^because the 
children of Israel have broken their covenant." 
(III. Kings xix., 10.) ''A fainting has taken hold 
of me," says the royal Prophet, "because sinners 



256 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

have forsaken Thy law ; and my zeal hath made me 
pine away, because my enemies forgot Thy com- 
mandments." (Psalms cxviii., 53.) These holy 
men were thus afflicted at seeing with what licen- 
tiousness the wicked violated the law of God ; the 
sorrow of their minds passed into the humors of 
their body, and even into their very blood, as it 
were. "I beheld the wicked,'' says David, **! 
pined away ; because they kept not Thy command* 
ments." (Ps. 118, 158.) 

**Mine eyes became fountains of water ; because 
they observed not Thy law." Ihid. 136. It was 
the violence of his zeal that made David melt into 
tears when be beheld the infinite Majesty of God 
offended. This zeal made St. Paul write to the 
Romans: **I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, 
my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy 
Ghost, that I have great sadness and continual 
sorrow in my heart ; for I wished myself to be an 
anathema from Christ, for my brethern, who are 
my kinsmen according to the flesh." (Kom. 
ix. 1-3.) 

How much have the saints not done for the sal- 
vation of their neighbors ? Let us hear what the 
great Apostle of the Gentiles says of his own labors, 
troubles and sufferings for the salvation of men. 
In his epistles to the Corinthians he writes as 
follows: *'Even unto this hour we bota hunger and 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 25T 

thirst; and are naked, and are buffeted, and have 
no fixed abode ; and we labor with our own hands • 
we are reviled and we bless ; we are persecuted and 
we suffer it ; we are blasphemed and we entreat: 
we are made as the refuse of this world, the 
offscouring of all even until now." (I. Cor. iv., 
11, 18.) ''Our flesh had no rest, but we suffered 
all tribulation : combats without, fears within.'' 
(ii. Cor. vii.^ 5.) *'In many more labors, in 
prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, 
in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I 
receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I 
beaten with rods ; once I was stoned ; thrice I 
suffered shipwreck ; a night and a day was I in the 
depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of 
water, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own 
nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the 
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, 
in perils from false brethern. In labor and pain- 
fulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, 
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." (II. 
Cor. xi., 23-27.) 

All truly apostolic men can speak a similar 
language. Were a St. Francis Xavier to appear 
in our midst, he could tell us how, for the sake of 
the barbarians, he climbed mountains and exposed 
himself to innumerable dangers to find those 
wretched beings in the caverns, where they dwelt 
like wild beasts, and lead them to God. 



258 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

A St. Francis de Sales would tell us Iiow, to 
convert the heretics of the province of Chablais, he 
risked his life by crossing a river every day for a 
year, on his hands and knees, upon a frozen beam, 
that he might preach the truth to those stubborn 
men 

A St. Fidelis would tell us how, to bring back 
to God the heretics of a certain place, he willingly 
consented, in preaching to them, to lose his life. 

'*Ah," exclaimed St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, 
'*how great a pain it is, Lord, to see how one 
could help Thy creatures by dying for them and 
not be able to do so." In her zeal for the salvation 
of souls, she went so far as to desire to endure even 
the pains of hell for their conversion, provided she 
could still love God in that place, and God granted 
her wish by inflicting on her most violent pains and 
infirmities for the salvation of sinners ; and yet 
after all this, she shed bitter tears, thinking she 
did nothing for their conversion "Ah, Lord, 
make me die," she used to exclaim, **and return to 
life again as many times as is necessary to satisfy 
Thy justice for them." 

The Cure of Ars, in one of his catechetical in- 
structions, relates as follows : *'A great lady of 
one of the first families in France has been here, 
and she went away this morning. She is ricli, very 
rich, and scarcely twenty-three. She has ofi^cred 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 259 

herself to God for the conversion of sinners and the 
expiation of sin. She mortifies herself in a thous- 
and ways, wears a girdle all armed with iron points ; 
her parents know nothing of it ; she is as white as 
a sheet of paper.'' 

**And there came in my heart, as a burning fire, 
shut up in my bones, and I was wearied, not being 
able to bear it,'' says Jeremiah xx., 9. 

No doubt, says St. John Chrysostom, *'one man 
alone, inflamed with zeal for God's honor, is suf- 
ficient to convert a whole nation." (Homil. i. ad 
propul.) Witness the Prophets Elias, Eliscus, 
Isaias, St. John the Baptist and other Prophets. 

Witness St. Bernard, who was like a fire that 
takes hold of a forest and destroys it completely. 
Such were the effects of his preaching that mothers 
prevented their children, wives their husbands, and 
friends their friends from going to listen to him, 
because the Holy Ghost gave such force to his 
words as would destroy all irregu'ar desires and 
affections in the hearts of his hearers. 

Witness St. Dominic, who, like an angel from 
heaven, urged all on, by his words, life and 
example, to seek the kingdom of God ; being 
enkindled with the fire of divine love he tried to 
enkindle the same fire in the hearts of all men. 
Upon being asked from what book he took such 
fiery sermons: **rrom the book of charity," he 



260 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

replied. *'This is the only book I study, and from 
it J take, not inflating, but inflaming words." 

"Witness St. Francis, of Assisium, of whom St. 
Bonaventura relates, that men of every age and 
sex ran to see and hear this man of God ; for his 
words were like a burning fire penetrating to the 
innermost of the heart, and filling with admiration the 
minds of all his hearers. His heart, his soul, his 
looks, his words, his actions, were all fire. Hence 
the conversion of so many thousands from a sinful 
to a Christian life, and from a Christian life to a life 
of great perfection. 

To please Jesus Christ it is neccessary for reli- 
gious to be inflamed with similar zeal for the salva- 
tion of souls. 

There is nothing more pleasing to Grod, or even 
so pleasing, as zeal for His glory and for the salva- 
tion of souls. '*We cannot ofier any sacrifice to 
God," says St Gregory, ** which is equal to that 
of the zeal of souls." **There is no service," says 
St. John Chrysostom, *'more agreeable to Him than 
this. To employ one's life in this blessed labor is 
more pleasing to the Divine Majesty than to sufier 
martyrdom." '*And there is nothing," says 
llichardus, **that pleases God so much as the zeal 
of gaining souls." This made St. Teresa say, 
**that she felt greater envy for those who were 
engaged in the salvation of souls, than for the 



THE SALVATION OP SOULS. 261 

martyrs. The reason of this .is, because there is 
nothing so pleasing to God as charity ;'' for as St. 
Paul says, "charity is the greatest of virtues, and 
the bond of perfection.'* (I. Cor. xiii., 13.) 
Now, the zeal of which we speak is nothing else 
than ardent charity, which makes us not only love 
Ood with all our heart and serve Him with all our 
strength, but makes us also wish that the whole 
world might love and serve God in the same man- 
n'^r, and that His name might be glorified by all 
i/jii, and that His kingdom might be established 
everywhere. To feel exceedingly great joy at 
whatever contributes towards God's glory, and 
to be penetrated with sorrow at all the sins which 
are committed_, is an unspeakably great love of 
God. Indeed, a good son takes nothing more to 
heart than the honor and advancement of his father ; 
his only joy and comfort is, to see his father ad- 
vanced ; all offences and outrages committed against 
him, are felt by him as keenly, nay, sometimes 
even more keenly, than if they were committed 
against himself. So, in like manner, all those who 
are inflamed with true zeal for the glory of God 
place and seek all their joy in seeing God honored 
and praised by the whole world ; and nothing gives 
them more pain than to witness contempt for the 
Majesty of God. 

It cannot be douDtcd that this seal is a most 



262 ON THE ZEAL OP RELIGIOUS FOR 

perfect act of the love of God. It is likewise a 
most excellent act of the love of our neigh- 
bor ; for, as the love of God consists in rejoic- 
ing at whatever conduces to His glory, and in 
being afflicted at whatever offends Him ; so, in like 
manner, true love for our neighbor consists in re- 
joicing at his welfare, and in sympathizing with 
him in his misfortunes, and in trying to prevent or 
remedy them to the best of our power. 

Now, what can be a greater evil or misfortune for 
our neighbor than sin? The Saints say that, if we wish 
to know whether we love our neighbor, we should 
examine ourselves as to whether we are afflicted for 
his faults, and filled with joy at his spiritual ad- 
vancement. **Who is weak," says the Apostle, 
**and I am not weak ? Who is scandalized, and I am 
not on fire ?" Who is he, says the Gloss on this pas- 
sage^ that becomes weak in faith, or in any other 
virtue, without my being afflicted for him, as I 
would be for myself; and who is in adversity, who 
is s(iandalized , or in trouble, and I feel not myself 
burnt up with tenderness and compassion ? (H. Cor. 
xi., 29) St John Chrysostom says, *'that the 
zeal for the salvation of souls is of sD great a merit 
before God, that to give up all our goods to the 
podr, or to spend our whole life in the exercise of all 
sorts of austerities, cannot equal the merit of this 
zeal. The spiritual works of mercy surpass in 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 263 

value the corporal works of mercy as umcli as the 
price and value of the soul exceeds that of the 
body." **Would you not feel hapyy," says this 
Saint," if you could spend large sums of money in 
corporal works of mercy ? But know, that he who 
labors for the salvation of souls does far more ; nay, 
the zeal of souls is of far greater merit before God 
than the working of miracles. What great miracles 
did not Moses perform when the children of Israel went 
out of Egypt ? yet all that is nothing if compared to 
that ardent zeal which he testified, when, interced- 
ing for them with God, he said: **Either pardon 
them this trespass, or if Thou do not, strike me out 
of the book that Thou hast written" (Exod. xxxii, 
31-32.) ^^Behold here," continues St. John 
Chrysostom, **the greatest miracle that Moses ever 
wrought." 

Shall I say more to excite in us this holy zeal for 
the glory of God and the salvation of souls ? * *The 
charity of Christ urgeth us." (II. Cor. v., 14.) 
What! I hear the Son of God exclaim : *'God so 
loved the world as to give His only begotten Son." 
(John III., 16.) I see Jesus Christ weep on straw; 
I see Him weep over Jerusalem ; I see Him sweat 
blood ; I see Him scourged, crowned with thorns, 
carrying His cross ; I see Him lifted up on the 
cross between heaven and earth, between two male- 
factors ; I see Him suffer for mankind so much that 



264 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

even the sun cannot bear it — that even the rocks 
burst asunder ; and my heart shall not feel moved 
at this spectacle of divine love and zeal of Jesus 
Christ. I hear Jesus Christ exclaim : ** Father, 
forgive them;" '*I thirst," i, e., I thirst for the 
salvation of souls, and this cry of Jesus Christ from 
the cross shall not pierce my heart, and enkindle it 
with similar thirst for the salvation of souls ? 

What ! I see a soul, nay, thousands of souls, ready 
to perish; I see them ready to fall into hell; I 
.think that God died so ignominious and so painful 
a death for them ; I see that it is in my power to 
do so much for their salvation, and I should remain 
idle, and I should not exert myself to the best of 
my power to save them even at the loss of my life ! 
0, what great cruelty, my brethren! We hear a 
little child weeping, and we at once try to console 
it ; we hear a little dog whining at the door, and 
we open it. A poor beggar asks for a piece of 
bread, and we give it. And we hear Jesns Christ 
tveeping Sind crying for souls, and His voice makes 
no impression ; we say with the man in the Gospel : 
*' Trouble me not, the door (of our heart) is now 
shut. I cannot rise and give thee." (Luke xi.) If 
an ass, says our Lord, falls into a pit, you will pull 
him out even on a Sabbath day ; and a soul, nay, 
thousands of souls, fill into hell every day, and 
shall we be like that ungodly Bishop of Burgos, 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 265 

who, on being told by Las Casas that seven thou- 
sand children had perished in three months, said : 
**Look you, what a droll fool; what is this to me 
and what is it to the king ?" To which Las Casas 
replied: **Is it nothing to your lordship that all 
these souls should perish? Oh, great and eternal 
God ! And to whom then is it of any concern ?" 
(Life of Las Casas, by Arthur Helps.) Is our 
heart hard enough to listen with indifference to these 
words of the Gospel: ** Begone, ye cursed, into fire 
everlasting." 

Must we not say to ourselves what St. Alphonsus 
was wont to say to himself to stir up his zeal for 
the salvation of souls: **Who knows," said he, 
**what God requires of me? Perhaps the predesti- 
nation of certain souls may be attached to some of 
my prayers, penances, and good works." (Life, 
i. vol., p. 259.) What shall we answer if accused 
before the tribunal of God by those souls who have 
been lost by our want of zeal for their salvation ? 
If one shall say : my soul would be saved had you 
prayed more on such and such an occasion ? If 
another will say : my soul would enjoy God forever, 
had you come sooner to avert by works of penance 
the wrath of God ; or if another says : a hunter 
spends whole days in cold and snow to hunt up 
some game, and perhaps finds it not, and you would 
have easily found and gained my poor soul for 
9 



266 ON THE ZKAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

heaven had you taken but a little more trouble for it, 
which you could have done so easily, instead of 
spending your time in vain and frivolous, nay^ even 
sinful conversations ! Alas ! what answer shall we 
have to give ? '"'And he was silent. '^ (Math, xxii.) 
To be destitute of this ardent zeal for the salva- 
tion of souls is to see, with indifferent eyes, the 
blood of Jesus Christ trodden under foot ; it is to 
see the image and likeness of God lie in the mire, 
and not care for it ; it is to despise the Blessed 
Trinity : the Father Who created it — the Son Who 
redeemed it — the Holy Ghost Who sanctified it; it 
is to belong to that class of shepherds, of whom 
the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy as follows: 
**Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds 
of Israel ; prophesy and say to the shepherds : Thus 
saith the Lord God : Woe to the shepherds of 
Israel — My flock you did not feed ; the weak you 
have not strengthened, and that which was sick 
you have not healed ; that which was broken you 
have not bound up, and that which was driven 
away you have not brought again; neither have 
you sought that which was lost ; and My sheep 
were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and 
they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, 
and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in 
every mountain and in every high hill ; and there 
was none, I say, that sought them. Therefore, ye 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 267 

shepherds, hear the word of the Lord : Behold, I 
myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my 
flock at their hand." (Ezek. xxxiv., 2, 11. ") To be 
destitute of this zeal, is to hide the five talents 
which the Lord has given us, instead of gaining 
other five talents. Surely the Lord wfil say : *^And 
the unprofitable servant cast ye out in the exterior 
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth." (Math, xxv., 30.) 

What a shame for a religious to know that the 
devil, in alliance with the wicked, is at work, day 
and night, for the ruin and destruction of souls, 
and to be so little concerned about their eternal 
loss, just as if it was not true what the holy Fa- 
thers say, that the salvation of one soul is worth 
more than the whole visible world I Since when is 
it, then, that the price of souls has been lessened? 
Ah, as long as the price of the blood of Jesus Christ 
remains of an infinite value, so long the price of 
souls will remain the same also. Heaven and earth 
will pass away, but this truth will not. The devil 
knows and understands it but too well. Oh ! how 
he delights in a religious who is called by Jesus 
Christ **the hireling, because he has no care for tho 
sheep, and who seeth the wolf coming and loavcth 
the sheep and flieth." (John x., 12.) 

On the day of judgment, such ro'ligious will be 
confounded by that poor man of whom ^,Ye read in 



268 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

the life of St. Francis de Sales, as follows : One 
day this holy and zealous pastor, on a visit of his 
diocese, had reached the top of one of those dread- 
ful mountains, overwhelmed with fatigue and cold, 
his hands and feet completely benumbed, in order 
to visit a single parish in that dreary situation ; 
while he was viewing, with astonishment, those 
immense blocks of ice of an uncommon thickness, 
the inhabitants who had approached to meet him, 
related that some days before a shepherd, running 
after a strayed sheep, had fallen into one of these 
tremendous precipices. They added that his fate 
would never have been known if his companion, who 
was in search of him, had not discovered his hat on 
the edge of the precipice. The poor man, there- 
fore, imagined that the shepherd might be still re- 
lieved ; or if he should have perished, that he 
might be honored with a Christian burial. With 
this view he descended, by means of ropes, this 
icy precipice, whence he was drawn up, pierced 
through with cold, and holdiug in his arms his 
companion, who was dead, and almost frozen into a 
block of ice. Francis, hearing this account, turned 
to his attendants, who were disheartened with the 
extreme fatigues which they had every day to en- 
counter, and availing himself of this circumstance 
to encourage them^ he said : "Some persons imag- 
ine that we do too much ; and we certainly do far 



t:ie salvation of souls. 269 

less than these poor people. You have heard in 
what manner one has lost his life, in an attempt to 
find a strayed animal ; and how another has ex- 
posed himself to tbe danger of perishing in order to 
procure for his friend a burial, which, under these 
circumstginces, might have been dispensed with. 
These examples speak to us in forcible language ; 
by this charity we are confounded, we who perf >rm 
much less for the salvation of souls entrusted to our 
care, than those poor people do for the security of 
animals confided to their charge.^' Then the holy 
Prelate heaved a deep sigh, saying: *'My God, 
what a beautiful lesson for Bishops and Pastors ! 
This poor shepherd has sacrificed his life to save a 
strayed sheep, and I, alas I have so little zeal for 
the salvation of souls ! The least obstacle suffices to 
deter me and make me calculate every step and 
trouble. Great God ! give me true zeal and the 
genuine spirit of a good shepherd ! Ah ! how many 
shepherds of souls will not this herdsman judge !'' 
Alas! how just and how true is this remark! If 
we saw our very enemies surrounded by fire, we 
would think of means to rescue them from the dan- 
ger ; and now we see thousands of souls^ redeemed 
at the price of the blood of Jesus Christ, on the 
point of being cast into the eternal flames of hell ; 
and shall we be less concerned and less active for 
these images and likenesses of God than for their 
frames, i. e. , their bodies 2 



2T0 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

My dear reader, are we not under an infinity of 
obligations to God ? Has He not created us ? Has 
He not redeemed us by His Blood ? Has He not 
had the goodness not to punish us for our sins, 
waiting for the hour of our repentance ? Does He 
not daily heap upon us benefits great in quantity, 
infinite in quality, pure in intention, and continual 
ia their duration ? In a word, do not all good and 
perfect gifts proceed from the Most High, the Fa- 
ther of Light ? What return shall we make for 
them? Behold, my dear reader. He transfers to our 
brethren the right to all we owe Him . He fully 
discharges us of every claim, on condition that we 
do all in our power for the salvation of our neighbor ? 

Besides, how great is not the number of our own 
sins? — how enormous is not their weight? — how hein- 
ous their nature? How shall we cover and cancel 
them? One of the best means to satisfy the justice 
of God for all our offences is, to make efforts that 
others may cease to offend Him, and serve Him 
with all their heart. It is the apostle St. James, 
who says so: '*He who makes a sinner forsake the 
errors of his life, will save the soul of the sinner, 
and cover a multitude of his own sins. "(James v. ,20.) 
St. Augustine takes notice of this truth upon the 
occasion of the cure of the possessed person in the 
Gospel. The holy text says that this man, seeing 
himself cured, wished to follow Jesus Christ, in 



THE SALVATION 0? SOULS. 271 

acknowledgment of i\e great benefit he had re- 
ceived ; but our Saviour did not permit him, but 
said to Him : ** Return home and recount the won- 
ders that God has wrought in thee, and he went 
about the town preaching the wonders that Jesus 
had wrought in him." (Luke viii., 39.) 

What God requires of you in acknowledgment 
of the favor He has conferred on you, by drawing 
you out of the abyss of your sins is, to endeavor to 
draw your neighbor also out of sin and to urge him 
to serve God with all his heart. 

Let us not be surprised at this. We all know 
but too well that sin is the greatest of all evils. In 
like manner, the remission of sin is the greatest 
of all good. By sin, the infinite Majesty, Bounty 
and Sanctity of God are most grievously offiended ; 
sin is a certain deicide, as it were, nay, it really 
and truly was a '*Christicidium,"for it could not be 
expiated by any other price than that of the blood 
and death of Jesus Christ. Now, this remission of 
sin can be operated only by the infusion of the grace 
of God, by which we become the children and heirs of 
God, and even the partakers of the divine nature, 
according to what St. Peter tells us. (Epist. 2., 
c. i., 4.) For this reason the Prophet Micheas 
exclaims: *'Quis Deus similis tui, qui aufers ini- 
quitatem!" For the justification of the impious soul 
is a greater work of God than the creation of the 



212 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

whole world. *'Majus opus est ex impio justum 
facere, quam creare coelum et terrain," says St. 
Augustine, a truth which St. Thomas proves by 
saying that the least degree of sanctifying grace is 
worth more than the whole visible world. *'Bonum 
gratlae unius hommis majus est, quam bonum naturse 
totius universi," (St. Thorn, p. g. 113^ art. 9.) be- 
cause, sjys St. Bernard, (3Iedit) God would not 
have given His life for the whole visible world; He 
delivered Himself up to an ignominious death only 
for the soul of man. 

Moreover, God does not only take away sin from 
the soul, and deliver it from the worst of enemies 
that can attack and possess it, but He removes sin 
from the soul so far that, according to the prophet 
Micheas (c. vii.) ; He casts it into the depth of the 
sea, nay, on the day of judgment He will cast it, 
together with all sinners, into the abyss of hell. 

All penitent Saints have always exalted anil 
praised God for this admirable grace and gift. St. 
Peter would melt into tears whenever he heard the 
. cock crow, remembering his denial of Christ ; this 
fault was for him a perpetual incentive to give him- 
self up entirely to the preachings love and service 
of Christ ; even unto the death on the cross for 
Christ. Hence he exults and rejoices at this graca, 
and congratulates the Gentiles upon it when he 
writes in his I. epist., chapt. 2, 9 : "You are a 



THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 2lS 

chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy na- 
tion, a purchased people, that you may declare His 
virtues ; Who hath called you out of darkness into 
his marvelous light : Who, in time past, were not 
a people, but are now the people of God. Who had 
not obtained mercy : but now have obtained mercy.' 

St. Paul, too, was altogether enraptured about his 
conversion, and congratulated himself upon it so 
much that he could not help exclaiming : * * A faithful 
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom 
I am the chief ; but for this cause have I obtained 
mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show 
forth all patience, for the information of them that 
shall believe in Him unto life everlasting. Now, to 
the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, 
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 
(I Tim. i., 15-18.) 

St. Magdalen having been assured by our Lord 
Jesus Christ that her sins were forgiven, retired into 
solitude, there to spend her whole life in shedding 
tears of sorrow and love, of thanksgivings, in mak- 
ing acts of love, in prayer and contemplation, say- 
ing, with the spouse in the canticles: *'A bundle 
of myrrh is my beloved to me ; — compass me about 
with apples, because I languish with love. (Capt. I, 
12, II, 5.) 

St. Mary, of Egypt, likewise spent forty-seven 



274 ON THE ZEAL OF RELIGIOUS FOR 

years in solitude, always remembering the following 
passage of Holy Scripture: .*'The mercies of the 
Lord I will sing forever.'^ 

If we have imitated these Saints in offending God, 
let us also imitate them in pacifying Him, by serv- 
ing Him in the spirit of penance, of humility, of 
thanksgivings, of love and fervor ; but especially by 
trying, to the best of our power, to rescue souls 
from the abyss of sin, and offer them in compeusa 
tion for the evil we have done. Certainly, if we 
truly repent of our sins, if we are truly grateful for 
their remission, we shall most assuredly rejoice with 
such Saints in sacrificing to God's honor and the 
salvation of souls, our lives and whatever we have 
received of His bounty. With our whole strength 
we shall consecrate all our faculties eternally to the 
glorious and holy functions of divine love, We shal 
pray and labor without intermission that Gt)d alone 
may reign in our own soul ; that all tongues may 
never cease to sound forth His praises, and that all 
creatures may have but one heart ; we shall ardently 
desire always to be employed with the angels and 
blessed spirits in doing His will, in loving Him, 
and in glorifying His adorable name. There will 
be no danger to which we shall not be ready to ex- 
pose ourselves, in order that our soul may be con- 
verted. We shall be glad even to lay down our 
life a thousand times, were it possible, to hinder 



THE SALYATTOX OF SOULS. 2iO 

one offence against the divine Majesty. I repeat 
again, if it be to us a subject of perpetual tears and 
compunction, ever to have offended so good a God 
and so kind a Redeemer, then, no doubt, we shall 
make the first petition in the Our Father the object 
of our perpetual desires and tears, viz : that the 
God of our heart and of all creatures may be 
known, perfectly loved, and faithfully served by all; 
nnd we shall never cease earnestly to invite, with 
the royal prophet, all creatures with theip whole 
strength, and with all their powers, to magnify the 
Lord with us ; but above all it will be our principal 
care, and most earnest prayer^ that we ourselves 
may perfectly attam to this happiness of devoting 
to God all the affections of our soul and all the 
actions of our life. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Feb. 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

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Cranberry Township. PA leOSS 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



